Book I - A New Order
by WillowDream M
Summary: Percy thought he could live in peace. No monsters, no battles, no prophecies. Of course that's before Jason disappears and Reyna delivers a message: all demigods will die, starting with Percy. He gets dragged into adventures that take him away from his friends and Annabeth - forever? Post BoO. Reviews much appreciated! Will be part of a series.
1. Chapter 1

_**Before the fun starts, I just wanted to dedicate this story to Rosycat, someone I'm very happy to call my friend and who has helped me and supported me so much for that story!**_

 _ **Now, enjoy, fav/follow, and review!**_

* * *

We had a great plan. And you know what? For once, it almost worked. Almost. The plan was to spend a year in New York, and graduate – check. Then we'd go to New Rome – check. And then, it would be "Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California" – so not checked.

We were in New Rome for barely a week – that's all it took. My mother just left, hiding her tears, carried away by Paul – or she would still be here. We lived in a student accommodation, nothing too fancy but big enough for Annabeth and I. We had the view on the senate and a little café just across the road. It had been a year of complete calm, no monsters, no quests, just enjoying the new friendship between Greeks and Romans.

I was at the window, looking down on the streets, when I saw Frank and Hazel walking towards our building. "Hey, Frank, Hazel!" I called to them. They looked up and Frank motioned for them to come inside.

"Hey, what's up man?" I said when I opened the door to let them come in. I knew straight away when I turned to face them that something was up.

"Hey, we're good, is Annabeth here?"

"Nah she's in the library, my parents just left and she took the first occasion to go… You know how she is… But anyway, please, have a sit. So what's going on?"

"Ah well there might be some… complications" Frank continued.

"Complications? Please tell me they don't involve voices in the dark or falling into endless pits…"

"No but we'd need you. I mean, with Reyna being gone… I mean…"

"She's missing. Along with Jason" Hazel said, flying to the rescue of Frank who, after a closer look, seemed exhausted.

"What? Missing?"

"Yeah" Frank continued "I've been trying to cover it up, I mean, tensions started arising when what was found of the Sibylline book was brought to Camp Half-Blood, but then, Reyna and Jason simply disappeared from Camp. I couldn't just tell that to everybody and not compromise the peace."

"But they're missing"

"I can't go, I have to stay or they'll be no praetor here"

"And you Hazel I suppose you want to stay to help him. And you're saying this to me because…"

"Well obviously you're the only one, with Annabeth of course, that we trust enough not start a new war between Greeks and Romans" Hazel said, looking straight at me, clearly saying that I had no choice. "I understand that you and Annabeth just arrived, and that you want to enjoy some quiet time together, but this is important."

"Of course it is. So what happened? I mean, as far as we know?"

"Well, you know that Jason was supposed to visit Camp Jupiter, right? He was supposed to accompany Reyna here, who was on holidays at Camp Half-Blood. Apparently, they were all packed up and ready to go, but they never said goodbye, they simply… disappeared."

"What about Piper?"

"Piper told that to us. The others just thought they were in a hurry and left without saying anything. But Piper says he wouldn't have gone without saying goodbye."

"When did that happen?"

"A week ago. They were supposed to arrive yesterday."

"So you want Annabeth and I to retrace their steps and find them."

"Man, it would be great if you could. Piper'll probably do her part on her side, but I thought it would be a good idea to send someone from here."

"Well, praetor Zhang, it seems that our peace will have to be postponed. Friends first!"

I had no idea how right I was about postponing peace. We set off straight away when Annabeth arrived. We decided to go back to camp, to hear the story straight from Piper, and to work from there. I called my favourite hellhound, Mrs O'Leary, who pinned me to the ground and started barking happily in the middle of the road, getting worried looks from the people passing by.

"Don't worry, she is a friend, she's very gentle" Annabeth said to them, trying without success to reassure them – 'gentle' was probably not the right choice of words to describe a two meter high hellhound that was crushing me under her weight. When she calmed down, we jumped up on her, and she understood immediately what she was supposed to do – and where she was supposed to go. She did the natural thing: she jumped straight for the wall and shadow-travelled us across the country.

We arrived at the top of Half Blood Hill, the Athena Parthenos glowing in the sun, under the shadow of Thalia's tree – or more accurately 'in' its shadow. Mrs O'Leary licked us goodbye and curled up for a nap nearby. It had only been a week since I'd been there, but coming back showed me how much I had missed it – the Big House and it's blue roof, the sent of the strawberry fields, the Sound, the mismatched cabins. New Rome wasn't home yet – Camp Half-Blood would always be.

Annabeth took my hand, probably thinking the same thing, and started down towards the Big House. I followed her. No need for words; we had a mission to do, and we intended on finding Jason and Reyna as fast as possible.

When we approached, we saw that a group of people had gathered in front of the porch. Will Solace was running from the cabins, Nico di Angelo following him. I turned towards Annabeth, seeing in her eyes that we were thinking the same thing: something was up. "Hey, Solace!" I called out. He stopped running, looking towards us.

"Percy! Annabeth! I guess I know why you're here. You may want to follow us inside."

And so we did. We entered the Big House, heading towards the infirmary. "Hey, Nico, what happened?" Annabeth asked turning towards Nico who was walking behind us.

"We don't know yet." Nico answered. Well that explains everything.

We entered the infirmary behind Will. There, Chiron, in his centaur form, was hunched over a bed, pouring some nectar down someone's throat. "Will, you're here. Please, see what you can do."

We approached the bed to see who it was. I didn't recognize her at first, probably because she looked like she had been through Tartarus and back – and I know what I'm talking about, but there was no mistaking her, her dark hair, her tattered purple t-shirt: Reyna.

"What happened to her?" I asked Chiron.

"We don't know, her and Jason were supposed to leave a week ago. We got surprised that they left without saying goodbye, but their stuff were gone, and we thought they were on their way. We contacted Camp Jupiter, and Frank told us that they never arrived. And then, we just found her, lying under the Athena Parthenos. Nico found her and brought her here, and ran to find Will. That's all we know. Will, any information on her condition?"

"She's dehydrated, her body went through some kind of shock. I can't determine if it's magical, but it wasn't caused by any wound anyway. She doesn't seem in any kinds of danger right now."

"Do you think you could wake her up, or would it be too soon?" Chiron asked.

"A bit more nectar should do the trick. She might be too weak to talk, she might not even remember. It's hard to tell how she'll be, as I don't know what put her out." He gave her a little more nectar, and some colours started getting back into her skin. When he took the glass off her lips, her eyelids started moving.

"She's waking up" Nico said, his voice strained with anguish. He was gripping Will's arm as if Reyna's life depended on it. Her lips started moving. "She's trying to say something. Reyna?"

At the sound of her name, her eyelids flew opened, and she bolted upright, siting up on the bed, a look of complete panic in her eyes. Reyna panicked is definitely something that should get us worried. "They took him! They took Jason, and now they'll kill him! The message… they wanted me to deliver a message… We will die, they'll kill us all, the children of the gods, starting with the Saviour of Olympus!"


	2. Chapter 2

This might be the most straightforward prophecy I have ever heard. Although I wasn't sure who was the Saviour of Olympus, I would bet on Jason, after all they had been taken together and she was here, not him. Let's not think about what could happen, as far as I'm concerned, Jason is fine, and needs our help.

Reyna sunk back into the bed and fell back asleep. Annabeth shook her shoulder gently, calling her, but she didn't react. "She needs some sleep, she is really weak" Will said "I'll call you guys when she wakes up".

I couldn't move, I just staid stunned in front of her, hoping for… for what? A miraculous solution? That she would just wake up and be all right? I felt a hand lacing through mine, and Annabeth started pulling me out of the infirmary. "At least she is safe now" Chiron said, "Percy, Annabeth, I suppose praetor Zhang sent you here to find out what happened?" Annabeth and I nodded. "You should talk to Piper then, she was checking cabin 1 for clues last time I saw her."

We walked out of the Big House, followed by Nico. We walked in silence, wondering what in Hades could have terrified someone like Reyna, and worst, what could have taken her and Jason by surprise. Whatever it was, if Jason and Reyna together didn't stand a chance, I don't see who could be strong enough to get Jason back.

Once arrived to cabin 1, we saw Piper, her face between her hands, seated at the entrance. "Hey Piper…" started Annabeth, placing a hand on her shoulder and seating next to her. "Hey, I know how you feel, but we'll find him."

Piper looked up towards us, dark circle under her eyes. I sat next to her, followed awkwardly by Nico who obviously had no idea how to react.

"Sorry to ask you this, but could you tell us what happened?" I asked her.

"They were preparing to leave, Reyna and him. I was out in New York meeting up with my dad for the day. We had scheduled a meeting for goodbyes at Thalia's tree at 4pm. I arrived a bit early and waited there. But they never came. I went back down to the cabins but they were gone, even their bags. In the beginning we thought maybe they were in a hurry and they just left. But I had a bad feeling about it. I tried to contact them with Iris messages, but they I couldn't get them. So I contacted Frank instead, asked him to look out for their arrival. But he sent me an Iris message yesterday, saying they weren't there. I came back here trying to find a clue, but nothing. It looks like they just disappeared… And then Reyna is found unconscious under Thalia's tree, but…"

She didn't have to finish. Jason was still missing. I exchanged a look with Annabeth, and we thought maybe it wasn't the time for her to hear what Reyna had said. I turned towards Nico for a second; if Jason was dead, he would know. He seemed to understand my silent questions and said: "Well, he's out there somewhere, so I'd say we better start looking."

* * *

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around cabin 1 and Thalia's tree for clues. We couldn't find anything and finally settled our best chance was to wait for Reyna to wake up and tell us what she remembered. When the horn blew, announcing diner, we all started down to the dining pavilion, not saying a word.

On our way down, Will joined us. "She'll be fine, she is getting stronger with the ambrosia and nectar. She should be able to tell us what happened tomorrow after a good night sleep. But I still don't know what knocked her out. I'm pretty sure it's magic, but it's not any magic I know."

"It's ok, you did your best" Nico said to him reassuringly, smiling. That's a rare sight. I still didn't know if I should believe in the rumours about them, Annabeth did anyway. She said it was obvious they liked each other; they just didn't want everybody to know. She caught me staring at them and laughed. "Jealous, Seaweed Brain?"

"Me? Jealous? What!?"

She laughed again, kissed me on the cheek and left for the Athena table where she was greeted by her siblings. We all split up towards our tables, me preparing myself to eat alone – again. But to my surprise, when I sat down, Nico arrived and sat in front of me. "Do you mind? I mean, we're the only ones eating alone, so…"

"No, go ahead, it's fine" I replied.

We sat there in silence. Nico was no longer awkward around me and he sat there as though it was the rightful place for him. Chiron didn't say anything – it was now tolerated to seat at another table, as long as you didn't make a habit out of it. Thinking about how healthy Annabeth had made me eat for the last week, I ordered an enormous hamburger with fries – all blue, for good measure. I threw a bit of it in the fire to my dad, praying to him that Jason was fine and that we would find him in time.

* * *

I woke up in cabin 3 under the first rays of sunlight. I had expected to dream about something, something horrible, that would probably foresee the destruction of Camp Half-Blood and of human race, with some god having some wicked plan to defeat us. But no, nothing of the sort. No dreams at all. And you know what? For the first time in years – in forever really – I wish I had. I had always complained about dreams, or prophecies, but they were some help, at least. Something to think about. We had nothing now; Jason was out there somewhere and there was nothing to at least put us in the right direction. Apart from Reyna's message, that only informed us that someone wanted to kill us – but that's old news, there's always someone who wants to kill us.

When I came out of my cabin, I walked towards the Big House. I hesitated to check if Annabeth was awake first, but I was sure that if she was, that's where she would be now.

I entered the infirmary. Annabeth was in the corner, speaking in hushed tones with Chiron. When she saw me, she gestured me to come over. "Anything new?"

"No. She's still asleep. Chiron was just telling me we should pay a visit to Rachel and Ella. They might know something."

"I thought they only recovered fragments and that they weren't able to make sense of it."

"Of course, it's prophecies, they won't make sense until they come to pass" Chiron told me with a you-should-know-what-I'm-talking-about look.

"Ok. Send someone to us if she wakes up. We'll be back soon". Chiron nodded. Annabeth followed me out, and together, hand in hand, we took the direction of Rachel's cavern.

We found Rachel at the entrance of her cave, waiting for us. That's a good sign, hopefully. "Hi Rachel, were you expecting us?" I asked her.

"The Oracle of Delphi might be silent, but I still feel her presence, and she gives me feelings sometimes, that I have learned to listen. I had a feeling someone would visit me. And here you are. Come in."

"Do you know what we're here about?"

"Yes, Jason and Reyna. Everybody is talking about that."

"Ok. So, can you help us?"

"I'm afraid not. What we reconstituted of the Sibylline book is useless. What Ella remembered were parts of old prophecies that all came to pass. Once we recorded what she knew, we asked in Camp Jupiter who knew about the bits of prophecies we had gathered. A good part of them were identified. Then we came here and did the same thing. I'm afraid there are only two lines that remained unidentified, but Ella doesn't seem to remember the rest. She might not have read it completely at all."

"What did they say?" Annabeth asked.

" _From the Saviour of Olympus's pain,_

 _Sacrifice must open his veins_ "

"Cheerful, as always" I said.

"It can't be complete that's for sure, what does this 'from' refers to?" Annabeth asked, already thinking about all the possibilities.

"We don't know. From what Ella said, it was part of a bigger prophecy, she kept saying 'four rhymes, eight lines', but we couldn't find out what she meant" Rachel continued.

"I don't know, she might have meant that the prophecy was eight lines long, which is quite unusual. But the Saviour of Olympus? Reyna mentioned that already, saying he must die first."

"Well, whoever that is, I wouldn't like being him, someone clearly wants him dead and bleeding" I said, hoping it didn't refer to anyone I know – mostly hoping it didn't refer to Jason. But how could he be the Saviour of Olympus? I saved Olympus as much as he did, the whole seven of us did. Why only Jason?

Annabeth looked at me with her grey eyes, probably thinking exactly the same thing. "Well, thank you, Rachel, we might head back to the Big House, see how Reyna is." She said, rising from her chair and motioning to leave.

"Wait" Rachel continued, "I have a feeling you will find help for what you're looking for in cabin 20. I'm sorry I couldn't help you more."

"Thanks Rachel, don't worry, apparently you found us help, that's good, I guess." I had no idea what to say. She hadn't helped, apart from promising more pain and more blood.

We walked back down to the Big House. Chiron was still at Reyna's side, watching us carefully when we entered. Annabeth looked at him sadly, as if to say: _It wasn't much help_. "She's our best chance to know what happened. Apparently we're looking for _something_ and the Hecate cabin can help us. As far as I know we're looking only for Jason, and he's a ' _someone'_ , not a ' _something_ '".

We took a sit close to Reyna's bed. Apparently Will had washed her a bit and she didn't look as pale as she did yesterday. Will entered with a glass of nectar in hand. "Time for another sip." He put a few drops of nectar in her mouth. "That should be enough to wake her up". Right on cue, her eyelids started moving and opening slowly. I prepared myself for another apocalyptic message, but she staid in bed, waking slowly, taking in her surroundings.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary at Camp Half-Blood, you're fine" Will said reassuringly. "We found you at the entrance of camp under Thalia's tree."

"Where… Where is Jason?"

"We don't know. We hoped you had an answer to that."

"We were waiting under the tree. Waiting for… for Piper to come." She seemed to struggle to remember, closing her eyes to concentrate.

"Take it easy. Do you not remember anything else?"

"I… I don't know… I don't know… We were talking and then… I don't know."

"It's okay. So you don't remember yesterday when you woke up and mentioned a message?"

"A message? No I don't know about a message."

"You said ' _they_ ' took Jason and wanted to … kill all demigods."

"A message… Yes I remember. Someone arrived from behind. A young boy… A camper maybe. And then… the message…" She seemed to really struggle now. She was getting agitated.

"Don't worry, it's ok, just calm down, you don't have to remember" Will said, trying to get her to relax.

Just before she passed out again, she said one last sentence: "They want the son of the sea. They want the Saviour…"


	3. Chapter 3

I stopped counting how many people – or _thing_ – wanted me dead or had predicted my death at some point. When Reyna said that, Annabeth looked at me worriedly as though I was going to die on the spot; I just rolled my eyes at her as if to say: _sorry, not my fault_.

Problem was: we knew I was the one they wanted to kill, but they still had Jason, whoever "they" were. Apparently we had help that was waiting for us in cabin 20 that would bring us to something we were looking for, although we were just looking for someone. And we still had no freaking idea who had taken Jason and put Reyna into some kind of trance. She only talked about a young boy, a camper maybe. So now we had a traitor. This was just great!

"Well I guess our next move is to go to cabin 20. If her trance is magical and that a camper attacked her…" Annabeth started.

"I still couldn't believe that anybody at camp could beat Jason and Reyna, even if the whole cabin 20 had tried, which is very unlikely."

"I know, but maybe they'll have an indication of what we're looking for. Maybe they'll even know what kind of magic put her into that trance. I mean, we don't really have another choice, right? It's our only lead."

She was right of course. We had nothing else to go on. So we set course for cabin 20.

When we arrived there, a young girl with curly blond hair was waiting outside the door, her eyes closed, looking like she was concentrating very hard on something.

"Hi, we're looking for your head counsellor, Lou Ellen. Do you know where she is?" Annabeth asked the girl. I didn't recognize her at first, but then I remembered she had been the first demigod to arrive at Camp after the Giant War last year.

"I don't know. I'm trying to cast a spell right now, you might want to go" she answered without opening her eyes.

"Could you at least ask the others in your cabin if they know, please?" The second she heard my voice, her eyes flew open, widening, her cheeks blushing furiously.

"P… Percy... I… I didn't know it was you… I… Maybe… Erm… I'll just… check inside." And she ran in the cabin, slamming the door behind her.

Annabeth took my hand again, and squeezed it so violently I promised she wanted to crush it. Girls are weird.

A few seconds later, the girl came back out, still blushed and a hint of a smile on her face. "She isn't here. Maybe I can help you?" she asked timidly, her eyes fixed on the ground.

"No that's fine, we'll find her without you." Annabeth snapped, already turning around to go.

"Wait, Annabeth, maybe she can help."

"She's like, 12 years old, Percy, we're looking for someone who knows magic."

"We went on a quest to the Underworld at 12 Annabeth. Maybe she can help."

"Yes, I'm sure I can help!"

"You see, she says she can help." Annabeth rolled her eyes at me.

"All right, what do you know about magic that can put people into some sort of trance, or sleep?"

"You mean, a spell?"

"Well I don't know, you tell me."

"No because there are two kinds of magic: Mist manipulating and spells. I'm better at spells. The others are usually better with the Mist."

"Right, and would manipulating the Mist be enough to do that?" I asked her encouragingly. She blushed even more – if possible.

"Not really. I mean, it could induce a sleep on someone who does want to sleep, like everything with the Mist. You just trick someone into doing or believing something they want to do or believe; but spells are really what can _make_ someone do or believe something."

"Well, you see Annabeth, she did help!" She rolled her eyes at me, once again, and the girl blushed even more, biting her lips, and definitely very interested in watching the ground.

At that moment, a boy arrived at our level, and said: "Ophelia, will you move out of the way? You're blocking the entrance." The girl, Ophelia apparently, moved aside, as if scared by the guy, whom I recognise to be an older Hecate kid.

"Wait, your name is Ophelia?" asked Annabeth, a surprised look on her face – the kind of look that said _no, impossible_.

"Yeah…"

Annabeth sighed and looked at me, rolling her eyes once more. "Well, I guess we found who Rachel was talking about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, _Ophelia_ , like _ophelos_ , you know, the Greek for 'help'".

"Ah, right, 'you will find _Help_ for what you're looking for in cabin 20'." I recited from Rachel's 'prophecy'.

"Well, we've found help, let's see if we can find what we're looking for."

"So, Ophelia, do you have a bit of time to help some more?" I asked her. She looked at us, apparently not understanding what was going on, but suddenly very happy about it.

"Of course I do! I'll always have time for you P… I mean, to help!" She blushed once more and got back to her examination of the ground. When we left towards the Big House again, I saw a smile extending on her face, and her looking at the sky as if she was thanking the gods.

We entered the infirmary again, Ophelia behind us. Chiron was still over Reyna's bed, Reyna still seeming asleep.

"So that's our friend we were telling you about, that's probably under some kind of spell or something."

Ophelia approached her and started looking at her. Then she started moving around and chanting strange stuff and dancing weirdly. Annabeth looked down, trying no to laugh. After a while, she stopped and faced us, looking worried. "There is a very strong selective memory spell, meaning that they suppressed only certain memory and left some of them within the same time period, and there is a sleeping spell, which is not very strong. I guess whoever did this wanted her to wake up temporarily and remember some of what happened, but not everything."

I looked at her, stunned. Wave your arm around and chant some strange stuff and that's what you get? Really?

"Do you know who could cast that sort of spell?" Annabeth asked.

Ophelia seemed to hesitate, shifting from foot to foot. "Well, you remember when I told you here most people were good with the Mist? This is definitely not something they could have done. But I… I was practising these spells a week ago. I stopped because… Something weird happened." She looked at us, embarrassed.

"And what happened?" Annabeth asked, suspicious. Reyna had talked about a young boy who could have attacked them, but maybe the spell had modified her memory, and maybe we were standing just in front of our traitor. What seemed completely ridiculous. A 12 years old girl, defeating Reyna and Jason? No way.

"I was walking in the forest around camp about a week ago. I felt like I was followed, so I tried to get back to camp. On my way I saw that boy that was sneaking around the border, and I came up to him and asked him what he was up to. Then something attacked me from behind and I just used the first spell that was on my mind – a sleeping spell. It did nothing to both the attacker and the guy, but then after a while I started dozing off. I tried to counter it with another spell, but it didn't work. It felt like my magic was blocked, or even working against me. Then I woke up a few hours later in the woods and the guy was gone."

"What day was that?"

"A week ago, precisely."

"Do you mean, the day when Reyna and Jason disappeared?"

"Well… yeah… I guess…"

Annabeth and I exchanged a look. Whatever had happened, and whatever that guy wanted, apparently she was the reason Reyna was under a sleeping spell.

"But you didn't cast a memory spell, so you're not the one who cursed Reyna." Chiron said reassuringly. "Do you remember what that boy looked like?"

"I don't know, like any guy I guess."

"Okay. Well I suppose it's time to call it a quest. It seems clear that you three are supposed to go together. Return to where it all happened with this new element in mind. Find the object Rachel said you were looking for. And find Jason. That's as good a prophecy as can have right now." Chiron said, looking importantly to the three of us.

"You mean, a quest? Like when you fight monster and stuff? The three of us? You mean, me, Annabeth and Percy? Really?" said Ophelia, jumping up and down.

"Well yeah, a quest, like when demigods face death and fall in Tartarus" Annabeth replied, rolling her eyes, apparently annoyed by Ophelia's enthusiasm.

"Oh, yeah, but it's still awesome! Let's go! I mean, do we have to pack? Or how does it work?"

* * *

We met an hour later, all packed and ready to go, up at Thalia's tree. The goal now was to find any magical clues that would help us in our journey. Ophelia arrived, running and jumping, apparently delighted to go on the adventure.

"So, where did it happen?" I asked her.

She showed us where she found the boy, which was only a few meters from Thalia's tree, behind a bush and at the end of a short, steep slope. If Jason and Reyna were at the tree while this happened, they couldn't have heard or seen anything.

"So now apparently we're looking for _something_ that will help us in our quest. Ophelia, any idea on this?"

"Well, it could be an object that belonged to the boy or my attacker. If it was important enough to him, then I'll be able to place a locator spell on it, and it would lead to us to its owner."

We started looking. It wasn't long before Ophelia screamed "Here! Here!" jumping up and down with something in her fist. Annabeth and I approached her.

"Erm, I wouldn't want to crush your hopes, but that's a figurine." Annabeth said, annoyance obvious in her voice.

"I've seen that somewhere. I think it's a Mythomagic figurine. Of Zeus." I said, remembering Nico's game a few years back.

"And what, you think that guy was walking around with a Mythomagic figurine of Zeus and that it was actually important to him? There's a lot of people at camp that play that game. Anybody could have lost it."

"Nobody would have lost Zeus though. It's a very rare one to have. So if you have it, you don't just lose it in the woods. I know because I play Mythomagic, and I don't have Zeus. There's like, three people in Camp who have him, and they won't lose it. I'd say, that's what we're looking for" Ophelia said, apparently absolutely sure she was right. "Look, if it's not important enough to its owner, the spell won't work. So, I'll just try, okay?"

Annabeth sighed as a sign of resignation. "How do you know if it works?"

Ophelia didn't answer. She closed her eyes, closing her hands over the figurine, murmuring something. When she opened her hands again, the figurine was hovering in the air, glowing blue. "Like that." The object started moving, and Ophelia started following it. After a second of hesitation, I followed to, taking Annabeth with me.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm telling you, following a hovering figurine of Zeus is _not_ fun. It was as though we had an out of date GPS, and it was always getting us into ways that we couldn't follow. We tried to take a cab, but when he asked us where we wanted to go and we didn't have an answer, he left, saying things that I will not repeat. We also tried to call our pegasi friends, but once in the air, the figurine just kept showing us a way down. After loosing our afternoon in New York, we decided to go back to camp and to ask to borrow one of the vans. I had my driving licence after all. We were now on our way, following the crappiest GPS ever.

We stopped at a motel on the road, my hand nervously pinned in my pocket, expecting a monster to jump at us every second. That's always what happens on quests right? You think you can just go on and live your life and next thing you know something tries to kill you.

Annabeth was just as nervous as I was. Only Ophelia seemed excited. She was talking about a hundred things, changing subjects every second, asking questions without waiting for the answer – we didn't really listen anyway. "Is it true you defeated the Minotaur bare-handed before you even arrived at camp? Did you really go to the Underwold? How is it? And how was Greece? I'd love to go to Rome – I know it's not in Greece, but I'd love to go to Greece too…"

Once we finally settled in our room, Ophelia in the room just next door, we were grateful for the silence. Only it wasn't as long lasting as we would have liked. We were woken up by a scream in the middle of the night that came from the room next door. Instinctively, Annabeth and I grabbed our weapons and ran to Ophelia's room.

When we got out of our room, a shadow ran past us. "I'll follow it, check up on her" Annabeth said before taking off after the shadow. The door to Ophelia's room was opened. She was seated on her bed, crying. "It's gone" she said between two sobs.

"What do you mean? What's gone?"

"The figurine! It's gone! He took it!"

"He? Who?"

"The guy! The one that attacked me out of camp! He came and he took it! And it's all my fault!"

"No, it's not your fault, we should have stuck together. Come, we need to see if we can help Annabeth."

I felt awful. We had been so keen to get rid of her and her constant flow of words that we had left her on her own with the figurine. We did expect a monster attack, and yet we failed to protect her.

Of course Annabeth didn't need our help. She was only a few meters away, pinning the boy to the ground. When she saw us approaching, she made him seat up. "Do you recognise him Ophelia? Is it him who attacked you at camp?"

"Yes! It's him! He has the figurine!"

"Where's the figurine of Zeus?" Annabeth asked to the boy. He seemed about my age, and looked just like Ophelia described him: 'like any guy'. There was nothing particular about him, he could be just anyone, with no particular trait you could remember.

"I don't have it" he answered.

Annabeth started searching his pockets. After checking all of them twice, she looked at us and shook her head. "What did you do with it?"

"I never had it."

"You're lying! You were just there over my bed and you took it I saw you!" Ophelia screamed at him.

"Oh but girl, that's what you think you saw. But you didn't see me. You see, that's what good about me, you think it's me, but it's not" said the guy, laughing like it was the best joke he had ever made.

"Cut the crap man, tell us where the figurine is. We need it." I told him, starting to get really annoyed.

"Or what? You gonna kill me, Percy Jackson?"

Okay, I was well used to monsters or gods knowing my name even though I had never met them, but a guy? In a motel, in the middle of nowhere?

I pointed my sword at his throat and asked him: "How do you know my name?"

"You may not know who I am, but I know who you are, and who are destined to be, Saviour of Olympus."

"Who are you?"

"The question is not _who_ I am, but _what_ am I."

"Stop toying with us, tell me where is the figurine or I'll…"

"Or you'll kill me. Go ahead, I don't care. I'll be back."

I knew only one thing that didn't care dying and that 'would be back': monsters. Sometimes they just need a little push to show their true self. I made a cut on his arm as a little experiment: if he was human, the sword wouldn't harm him, but if he was a monster, it would. The second my blade made contact with his skin, it started bleeding. No, not bleeding, it was becoming sand… But his appearance remained the same. No tail with spikes jerked out of his behind, no strange legs or other mismatched animal parts – it was still the same guy with the same annoying grin on his face, knowing perfectly well that we had no idea what in Hades he was.

"That's right Jackson, you can kill me, it doesn't matter. I have a better fate that my fellow monsters though, at least I won't go to Tartarus."

I looked at Annabeth, puzzled. This made absolutely no sense. She looked just as lost as I did.

We brought him back to our room, tied him up with ropes and packed up our things. Our way of finding Jason's kidnapper was gone – we'd search the whole area and found no trace of the figurine – and that monster, or whatever it was, was now our only hope. We decided that the owner of the motel would probably not appreciate if he discovered we were holding up a prisoner, so we decided to leave straight away. To where, you will ask?

"Take the motorway and follow my instructions." The Guy (that's the name we started calling him) told us.

"Why should we trust you?"

"Cause I'm your only chance to find your friend, and that's where we're heading."

We exchanged a worried look with Annabeth. At least that situation was familiar. Of course we were going right through a trap, but we didn't have a choice. We headed for the motorway, the only sound in the van coming from the engine, working to direct us towards yet another way to risk our lives.


	5. Chapter 5

You know what's worst than travelling with a monster? Travelling with a monster that doesn't oppose any resistance. The Guy was simply happy to come along, sword under his throat or not, tied up or not. He just followed, gave instructions for the directions, and never tried to escape. I think that's the most worrying thing I've ever experienced with monsters. I'd rather get into a straight up fight with the Minautor, seriously, it's less nerve racking.

It got even worst when I realised where we were heading. I had taken the exact same road a little over two weeks ago, my stepdad driving and my mother asking every two seconds if I hadn't forgotten anything. We were going towards San Francisco – towards Camp Jupiter.

We didn't encounter any monsters on the way. The two consecutive wars against monsters had made them very shy to show up again. They were probably here, maybe just around the corner, but they kept a low profile. That's fine by me. I'd still prefer to fight the whole lot of them than to follow that stupid Guy.

As we were getting dangerously close to Camp Jupiter, I cracked up. I stopped the van, took the Guy out, and pointed my sword at his throat. I know it might not be the most intelligent thing to do, but I'm not known for my reflexions.

"How can we be sure you're guiding us to Jason? And what in Hades are you? You say you won't go to Tartarus, but maybe we should check that?" I yelled at him.

He laughed again. That laugh… Sand started flowing from the tip of my sword. Annabeth put a hand on my sword arm to stop me, throwing me a what-in-Hades-are-doing look.

"To answer your first question" the Guy said, still grinning, "you can't. The thing is, as you already know, I'm your only hope to find him. The figurine wouldn't have led you to him anyway. You never captured me; in case you hadn't noticed, I'm quite happy to do the journey with you. As for what am I; I can't really say – it would just spoil the fun. I'll let your girlfriend find out about why I won't go to Tartarus, she seems intelligent enough to understand".

I looked at Annabeth. She looked back at me with this expression that meant ' _I have a theory and you won't like it_ '. She opened her mouth to start explaining her theory, but to my surprise, it's Ophelia who started talking.

"He's not mythological. If he were he would only be able to take a modern appearance, like the gods or other mythological monsters, but if he's not, and he's actually 'modern', then he was created in this appearance."

"Well done little girl, you're not as useless at it seems" interrupted the Guy.

"And he won't go to Tartarus for the same reason" Ophelia continued, ignoring the Guy's remark.

"Ah well, you are useless after all. But fair enough, you can't answer that question until you've answered the 'what am I exactly' dilemma. Could we go back in the van now and keep going? We're going to be late for the party."

"Wait!" interjected Annabeth just as I took my sword away from his throat. "You said the figurine wouldn't have led us to Jason, yet it was important enough to lead to us towards you and for you to steal it."

"You have a point. Once again, that's part of the 'what am I exactly' dilemma, and I'm afraid I can't answer quite yet. I can still tell you this: The figurine didn't lead towards me, yet I was the one to steal it, although I never had it. I'll let you think about that."

Okay, I was used to riddles and things that made no sense, but that Guy just sounded completely insane. "Hey, what about that party? We don't want to go to any parties."

"Ah but you will. And you should be flattered, Percy Jackson, you're the guest of honour."

* * *

I know, if it sounded like a trap before, now it was so obvious, anybody would just have turned around and run. It's easy to do the math (and I'm no good at math, that's how easy it was): they wanted to celebrate my death. Without counting the piece of prophecy that talks about my bleeding to death as a sacrifice.

But there was no other choice, no other option than to follow his lead. How many times had we followed a monster in a trap and got out of it alive? But how many times will we be able to do that before our luck runs out? I looked at Annabeth in the corner of my eye. We had been through so much together. We had always been there for each other, and we had saved each other's lives so many times. But something was different this time. I couldn't tell what, but I had that gut feeling that something was about to change. And being a demigod, I have learned to listen to that gut feeling – it had a tendency to save your life.

The Guy told us to stop the van in the middle of nowhere, dangerously close to valley where Camp Jupiter lied. We got out of the van, took our bags and followed him, my sword pointed at his throat. We were surrounded by enormous eucalyptus trees, so huge they were blocking out the sun. I didn't know exactly where we were compared to Camp Jupiter, but I'm sure that if we wanted to go there on foot, we could.

Suddenly, we arrived in a very small clearing, with one big tree in the middle. And there, bounded to the trunk, was Jason, unconscious.

I started towards him, but Annabeth stopped me, giving me a look of warning. She seemed to say ' _it's a trap, we're not alone_ '. And sure enough, noises of branches cracking and leaves brushing started coming from all the sides of the clearing. Things were getting out of the woods, surrounding us. In the shadows, I recognised only shapes, but when they started coming out of the woods, I started making out figures. Once completely in the light, they weren't hard to recognise. But it was impossible… Surrounding us were exact replicas of the Guy, dozens and dozens of them, all looking exactly the same, with the same stupid grin, and the same we-got-you-and-that-was-so-easy look.

"Do you start to understand now, heroes?" The Guy (or at least one of them) asked us.

I wasn't really listening. I was trying to get a sense of Jason. Was he asleep? Would he hear us? Was he breathing?

I noticed Ophelia from the corner of my eye. She was trying to tell me something, moving her eyes to the direction of Jason, and pointing to her chest. I understood. I went next to Annabeth, who was facing the Guy, the gears turning behind her stormy grey eyes. And I started doing what we had done so many times before: a diversion, to let Ophelia approach Jason.

"What are we supposed to understand?" I asked, keeping an eye on Ophelia's progression.

"He said" Annabeth continued, apparently understanding the plan, "that when we thought we were seeing him, it wasn't actually him. That's what he meant: any one of these could have attacked Camp, and anyone of them could have the Zeus figurine right now."

"Keep going." The Guy nodded, apparently very interested in telling us who he was. Seriously, I had never met a monster that would just stop and explain, like a teacher. Gods could do that, not monsters. Okay, forget about that last thought, these weren't gods – that was an obvious part.

"You said you weren't going to Tartarus when you died because you weren't mythological, but you're still a monster. I think you're all part of the same thing, and as long as we don't kill the original monster, you won't go to Tartarus, and you won't truly die." I don't know when she had started developing her theory, maybe she was just making it up on the spot, but I guess she was right. This was nothing we had ever seen before, something that was created for a purpose, and not in ancient times.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Ophelia, very close to Jason now, her eyes closed and her lips moving slightly, probably doing some kind of counter spell. Slowly, I saw Jason starting to move. I sighed in relief, and continued the diversion.

"You want the Saviour of Olympus, and you said that's what I was destined to be. You have me now, so let the others go." Annabeth sent me a stop-right-there look, but I ignored her.

"Not exactly. We said we would _start_ with the Saviour, because he's the only one who can ' _seal Olympus's destiny'_ , and once he's dead, we can take care of Olympus. That wasn't always our purpose, but I guess it's down to that now."

Annabeth looked at me, suddenly pale. I guess we were thinking the same thing: monsters that dare thinking of taking Olympus over usually worked for some darker, greater forces, like a certain dirt goddess or chopped-up titan.

Ophelia came up next to me, and said to the Guy: "Well thanks for the invitation to your party. Percy, take care of the fountains, Jason will make sure we get transportation."

Then everything happened so fast, I just let my instincts take over. Those had a good ability to keep me alive as well.

At the mention of fountains, I opened up my senses to the proximity of water. There was a river passing by (let's not think about how that river was probably ending up around Camp Jupiter), and I commended it to rise and drown the monsters.

At the same time, Jason broke free and lightning cracked, striking the tree to which he was bound. Monsters scattered, some tried to attack. My wave died down for no apparent reason, but I got another problem to think about. Three of the monsters came towards me, sword at the ready. I started fighting the first one, surprised by his ability to match my own strategies. Then Annabeth arrived from behind and stabbed one of them in the back. The two others that had charged me dissolved into sand just as the one we just killed did. But before I even got the time to understand what was happening, I felt arms wrapping around me and I started to fly.

Jason flew us straight to Camp Jupiter. Yes, we were that close. I had no idea how Annabeth and Ophelia had gotten out of there, but when we landed at the border of Camp, they were waiting for us. They both started running towards us, Annabeth jumping in my arms, and Ophelia stopping just before, blushing and looking at the ground next to me.

"How did you get here?" I asked them.

"Trans-locator spell." Ophelia answered. "It's not really reliable and works only on short distances if one of the people transported is very familiar with the destination."

"Wow, that's really cool." I said to her encouragingly, making her blush even more.

"Guys, time for admiration later, there's things we need to talk about. We need to find Frank, now."

* * *

We were sitting down in Frank's house, where we had found him perched over a huge pile of papers, in the form of an eagle. Maybe eagles could read administrative papers more easily, I don't know. Jason was explaining what had happened, as apparently he remembered.

"I was out most of the time. It started at Camp Half-Blood when we were waiting for Piper. We just… fell asleep. Then when we woke up, we were in some abandoned building gods know where. They told Reyna they wanted her to deliver a message, that they were going to kill all demigods. Then they put some kind of spell on her. They took her away. I tried to summon lighting, or the winds or anything to get me out, but nothing worked. The lightning was never striking where I was directing it. Nothing was working like I wanted, it felt as if…"

"As if your powers were working against you" finished Ophelia.

"Yes exactly. Whatever those monsters are, I don't think we can use our powers against them. Like that lightning when we escaped. I wasn't the one that summoned it, I was just able to re-direct it towards the tree, or it would have hit you…"

We looked at each other worriedly. None of this made sense.

"So from what we know," started Annabeth "they are all part of the same monster, and you can't kill them unless you kill the original one. And they also can use our powers, maybe even better than us."

"I think they can use only the powers they are exposed to" continued Ophelia. "Think about it, they use magic against me because I was using magic against them, then they used lightning because Jason had used lightning against them. But they weren't able to control the river, were they?"

"Not in the beginning" I answered. "After a while they were. I was trying to keep it overflowing but it wouldn't. I think you're right Ophelia. They can only use the powers they are exposed to. But what about this: when Annabeth killed one of them, three of them died." I looked towards Annabeth, to make sure we had seen the same thing. She opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted.

Suddenly a bell rang over Camp Jupiter. Jason and Frank were the first out of the door. When we joined them we saw what the commotion was about. Camp was surrounded. Hundreds of those monsters, the same height, the same shapes in the distance, were advancing on camp from all sides. And they just kept coming.


	6. Chapter 6

Jason, Annabeth and I were the first ones to get to the line and prepared to fight. Frank was organising the legion, helped by Hazel who apparently was very good at replacing Reyna while she was gone. We told Ophelia to stay inside, she was just too young and she had never fought before.

We were standing by the Little Tiber. We had no idea what to expect. Frank was spreading the word that no godly power could help us, only our celestial bronze and imperial gold weapons.

I forgot how many they were. I forgot there was so many things we didn't know about them. I forgot about everything, and charged.

Annabeth and Jason followed. I saw an eagle flying above – Frank leading the legion. We crossed the Little Tiber and crushed right through the enemy line. It all became a blur then. I didn't know where the others were. There was monsters everywhere, all the same face, all the same person, and I rapidly lost track of whom I was fighting and how many I had turned to dust. I stabbed one in the shoulder and disintegrated him only to be attacked by the next one. I sidestepped to avoid one's sword, only to face another's. Occasionally, when I killed one monster, others around me would disintegrate, but more took their places. For each monster I killed, I felt like two were fighting back. And the more I progressed through their line, the more seemed to keep coming.

I felt like I was fighting a hydra: a monster you wanted so hard to behead, but beheading it would make it only stronger. You could kill a hydra by making sure it was damaged beyond repair, i.e. by exploding it. But I could hear the cannons in the distance, firing towards the upper parts of the valleys where no campers could be harmed. It didn't seem to make a difference.

Did it seem like the fight was lost? Yes it did. Did it stop us? No, of course not. Soon we started falling back. I could feel the Little Tiber behind me, getting closer. I had already been in desperate fights, I had already been so badly outnumbered and out powered, but I had never fallen back during a fight.

I was pushed back into the Little Tiber. I felt the familiar sensation of the water giving me strength and healing my wounds. I hadn't realised how tired I was, and how deep certain wounds were. I couldn't use water against them, but I could use it to be stronger.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Annabeth, fighting like she had never done before, more beautiful than ever, her blonde hair loose of her ponytail, her face determined – okay, let's not get distracted. Jason was not far in front of me, an enormous trail of blood in his back. On my right were legionnaires. I saw a young boy with dark skin falling to the ground, a sword protruding from his chest.

I fought harder. I vaporised four monsters in front of me in one, big arc with my sword. That was it, no more falling back, no more monster would pass me and get into camp. A new strength ran through my veins.

But that's when I made my first mistake. I was so obsessed about attacking that I stopped defending myself. A monster ran straight at me, sword in front of him, and rather than stopping his blade, I aimed for his throat with Riptide. Just before the impact, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my arm, along my biceps. I vaporised the monster, but it was too late, I could feel the blood running down my arm. My hand started shaking. The pain blinded me. The cut was deep. I desperately swung my sword in front of me, but the pain was too much. Looking down, I saw the river starting to change colour. My blood, along with the blood of the legionnaires around me, was turning the river pink, mixed with the dust of vaporised monsters.

Jason fell back next to me. He looked in pain too, tired, trying to stay alive rather than truly fighting.

Then something strange happened. I felt a hand on my shoulder, although when I looked at it there was no hand there. Then I heard this voice murmuring in my ear, that I didn't recognise at first. It was saying: "I believe in you". Then I saw her; Ophelia, a few meters away, being dragged away by the monsters.

That's when I made my second mistake – and the fatal one. Anger rose within me, descending in the river, raising it. I didn't know what I was doing; I just wanted to get Ophelia back. The water rose all around me, forming a wall around camp, forcing the legionnaires to get back into camp and the monsters into their line. Dark clouds started gathering above us. I wanted to direct the wave towards the monsters. But I wasn't strong enough. Lightning cracked, striking the river in different places, while the wave started extending. But it extended against my will on the opposite side – towards camp. As lightning stroke it over and over again, I felt electricity coursing through me and the world became darkness.

* * *

 _I was lying on a cold, uneven floor. The air felt moist and sounds of water drops echoed around me. I was cold and… soaking wet. I opened my eyes into darkness. I couldn't even see the outline of my body. Suddenly, I heard a faint voice; a whisper echoing around me. "The Earth Mother shall rise again… For his blood must be lost in vain… The Last Prophecy…"_

 _Then I heard the sound of someone walking and started seeing the flicker of a light in the distance. When it grew closer, I could make out where I was: a cave. I rose and walked in the direction of the light. The voice continued. "The New Order will be his legacy… Sealing Olympus's destiny…"_

 _When I was close enough to the light, I could start seeing the walls of the cave in more details. There were drawings everywhere, accompanied by lines of writings, carved in the stones. In a corner I could make out the design of a beast with the front end of a cow and the back end of a serpent – the Ophiotaurus. Right next to it was a drawing of a hand, holding a small figurine. I inched closer. Under that was represented the scene of a boy in front of a whole filled with food and liquid, with the ghost of a girl on the other side. How I could tell it was a ghost from a drawing carved into stone? The drawings seemed so clear, so real, and for some reason, I felt as if I was familiar with that scene. Not far under that design was the drawing a boy, the same boy, facing an enormous monster with a swirling whirlpool of darkness for a head._

 _When I looked back up to the hand holding the figurine, I noticed another design next to it: a little boy with a jacket three times too big for him standing near a foot that was bigger than him._

 _I got interrupted in my observation by someone walking behind me. He didn't seem to see me at first. Of course, I realised; I was in a dream._

 _When I finally saw his face, I nearly didn't recognise him. His golden robes were tattered, and the shine in his eyes was replaced by sadness and exhaustion. "We do not have much time, Perseus Jackson" Apollo started, staring approximately in my direction. "I did not vanquish Python, I only managed a diversion._

 _By now you should understand where you are, and what you are seeing. You and you only must see this; nobody else can know."_

 _Before I could even reply, the god disappeared. I heard the alarming roar of a monster. When I turned back around to face the cave wall, the drawings I saw earlier were gone, replaced by eight lines of writing. I didn't need to read them, the voice echoed again through the cave and recited:_

 _The Earth Mother shall rise again_

 _From the Saviour of Olympus's pain_

 _Sacrifice must open his veins_

 _For his blood must be lost in vain_

 _The New Order will be his legacy_

 _Made from his failure or his victory_

 _Sealing Olympus's destiny_

 _For this is the Last Prophecy_

 _Underneath it were two drawings: on the left, someone kneeling in front of the Council of the Gods, and on the right, the image of a god standing alone with another goddess in the Throne room. At their feet lied the three more powerful weapons existing on Earth: the Master Bolt, the Trident, and the Helm of Darkness. In his hand was a single, troubling weapon: a pen._


	7. Chapter 7

I felt something tugging my arm. I started waking up slowly, feeling like I was floating. The pain on my biceps started coming back. I heard someone calling my name in a weird, distorted sound, like I was underwater.

Oh wait… I opened my eyes and realise I _was_ floating underwater, probably still in the Little Tiber. The monster attack and my world's biggest failure came back to me. Maybe I shouldn't wake up after all.

Annabeth's hand was on my arm, trying to shake me awake – I don't know if you've ever tried to shake someone underwater, but it's actually very complicated. Take it from someone who can master currents.

I finally emerged. "Wow, it took you some time!" Annabeth screamed at me. She was soaked and looked exhausted. "All the others are awake, why did it take you so long? And will you tell me what the Hades was that about? We told everybody not to use their godly powers and what do you do? Summon a massive wave and try to kill everybody? Doesn't matter, you're fine. Apart from that cut on your arm that doesn't seem very good. Why didn't it heal? You were like, twenty minutes underwater, it should have healed."

I smiled. Yes I know, not the smartest reaction to a girl that's mad at you. But I know her. She was just worried I wasn't going to wake up, and she'd rather say all that than admit it. In two second she'll call me Seaweed Brain.

"What, feeling good, Seaweed Brain? You nearly drowned an entire camp and died and you… smile?"

I did the natural thing: I kissed her, and dragged her underwater.

* * *

I explained everything to her. The dream, and the prophecy. I know Apollo told me to keep it to myself, but it's Annabeth we're talking about. She is like part of me anyway so it doesn't count. We agreed than telling this to anybody else was a mistake though. Not until we had to. People wouldn't appreciate to hear about "The Last Prophecy". Or about Gaia rising again.

We spent hours sweating under the California sun to get all the campers back, bringing the wounded to the infirmary, and organising the ceremony for the dead – and there was way too many of them for a "simple" monster attack. The cut in my arm was deep and bled all day, but I didn't take notice of it. I just took my shirt off and made a makeshift bandage – it was so warm anyway. The blood rapidly soaked it, but it didn't matter. Others needed the care of the healers more than I did, and I felt responsible.

I played the images of the battle in mind times and times again. It was all my fault. I had left Ophelia inside, completely unprotected, and now she was taken. And despite what we had learned about the monsters, I had tried to use my godly powers, foolishly thinking I could overpower them. I had let my anger blinding me, and because of that, I had endangered the life of every single camper – maybe even… No, I don't want to think of that.

The others didn't seem to be thinking the same way. They thought the monster had directly taken control of the water, but I knew better – I, and I alone, raised it in the first place.

Apparently they were thinking that way because Jason had explained he hadn't summoned the lightning – rather he had tried to redirect it, just like he did when we found him attached to the tree. But it was different for him. First, it had happened before. And second, the legion would have believed him blindly.

It wasn't before sundown that exhaustion caught up with me. I hadn't eaten in ages, and there wasn't a part of my body that wasn't painful – without counting the blood soaked makeshift bandage on my biceps.

Annabeth dragged me to the infirmary, insisting on me getting stitches. She even insisted on getting the best healer they had, as apparently it was very worrying that I didn't heal after twenty minutes underwater. It didn't worry _me_ , but I let her do whatever. I wasn't focused on that – my mind was on 'how can I get Ophelia back'. I knew Annabeth was thinking about that too, but she didn't feel as guilty as I did. Guilt tends to take a lot of place in your life.

I sat down on the bed the Chief Healer, Elaine, showed me. She was tall and muscular for a girl, she was actually pretty intimidating – and take it from the guy who's sat in the middle of the Council of the Gods. You would imagine a Chief Healer to be a little more on the delicate side of things – mind you, this was a roman healer we were talking about. Her hair was short, military style, and her jaw was wide and square. She even drew back my attention to the here and now rather than on my plans to get Ophelia back – and I had thought of that all day, even when I was helping bringing dead bodies back to camp.

She took the makeshift bandage off my arm and nodded disapprovingly. For the first time since I put the shirt in place, I regretted not coming earlier. "You should have come to me when you got that. It's going to be even harder to close now" She said. I just nodded.

She set off to work. She prepared a solution based on unicorn horn dust, and added a bunch of other things and chanting weird stuff over the preparation. She put it in the wound (I closed my eyes and pretended I wasn't crying) and took a stitching kit. I nearly fainted in agony. "I would have anaesthetised you if you had come earlier, but I'm afraid we're short on anaesthetic now" she told me, with a so-get-on-with-it look. "You'll have to stay the night. No strain on that arm for at least two weeks. And when I say 'no strain', it means you don't even get to _lift_ a sword." She gave Annabeth a meaningful look as if to say 'make sure he does that'. Of course there was no way I'd do that, but I nodded anyway. I would spend the night here if it made her happy, but I was back in training tomorrow morning, first thing.

When she finally left, chasing Annabeth out because "visiting hours were over", I sunk into the bed and started thinking. I was exhausted, completely dulled to the pain that was throbbing in every single part of my body. I had to have a plan. I knew recovery would logically be the first step (how to win a war with stitches in your arm and a painful, unresponsive body?), but I didn't have time for that. Every second I was thinking about myself, Ophelia was out there somewhere, and gods know what was done to her.

I closed my eyes and let the sleepiness take over me, praying to my dad for a helpful dream.

I should know better. Gods haven't been listening these days, and for the second time of my life, I was frustrated to wake up without a dream. To add to my misery, the people that had gone looking for traces of the monsters the day before had come back with nothing, and when Annabeth, a few of our friends and I, came back with nothing as well after another day's search, we concluded that this was not the way to find Ophelia.

There was one thing left to do: train. If I couldn't beat them with my godly powers, I had to be so good that I could beat them as a human, but more than that. I needed to be stronger, faster, more efficient, and everything more than a human, but still fighting like one. I know it seems impossible, but one thing was sure: I was going to do everything that was in power and more to succeed.

And gods I trained hard. I started before the sun was up and finished when the night was falling. I trained with Riptide, but without as well. If I was to become a superhuman, I had to be able to lose my sword without losing the fight. I fought against all the best legionnaires, until I beat them. I fought against two legionnaires at once, and three, and four, and more, until I beat them.

I couldn't explain how I kept going. I couldn't explain where I got the strength from. I just got it, and used it.

Now you'll wonder about that cut in my arm. The first day was very hard; my arm – in fact, my entire body – wouldn't respond. I burst the stitches at least three or four times, getting disapproving looks from Elaine, who said that if I kept going she'd have to attach me to my bed. And so she did. But I got out – that was great training – and resumed fighting.

One day I arrived to her with my stitches burst for the thousandth time, and she refused to do it. I nearly got in the infirmary and started stitching myself, but when I passed in front of her, she grabbed my arm with strength, and looked at it with a surprised look on her face. "Come in" she said. I thought she had changed her mind. But she didn't take a stitching kit. She took a scalpel.

"Hum, can you explain how exactly you're going to stitch me with a scalpel?" I asked, quite scared of the answer.

"I'm not going to stitch you. Now, don't move."

Reassuring.

She approached the scalpel to my wound. She started cutting the stitches, effectively opening the wound again. I was well used to the pain at this point. She looked at it, a look of complete bewilderment on her face.

"Uh, what's going on?"

"Your blood…"

"Yeah, it bleeds, I got stabbed with a sword, that usually happens…"

"No, your blood… It's… Changing."

"Changing. My blood is _changing_. So what, I'm becoming a Martian?"

She didn't take notice of the joke. She just called all the healers in the infirmary to come over and watch "the phenomenon" as she called it. One by one, each one of the people in the room got to look at my wound, their faces changing from curious to complete surprise each time. I didn't see anything wrong with it.

But then I looked closer. The blood around the wound was just normal blood. But the blood inside contrasted in colour: it was a shade lighter.

We had no idea why, but it was true, my blood was really changing colour.

After everyone spent hours talking about all the possibilities of what was happening, Elaine finally stitched me up with a special thread that apparently she kept for magical wound (they at least had all arrived to the same conclusion that the wound was magical) made of unicorn hair (yeah I know, pretty disgusting when you think about it).

I didn't care. Magic wound or not, I just had to get on with it, and keep training. At least the unicorn hairs seem to hold on better, and the stitches didn't burst anymore – although the wound kept bleeding.

After about a month of training this way, I started being a bit of a phenomenon at Camp Jupiter, for two reasons. First, nobody wanted to fight with me anymore. Everybody feared me, saying I was unbeatable. And second, the wound on my arm never healed, or worsened; in fact in hadn't changed in a month. And even though I was bleeding from it every day, it didn't seem to affect me. The only difference was the colour of my blood that seemed slightly lighter.

That's when I got _the_ dream. But it wasn't sent by a god. It was a message, straight from the monsters themselves. It was pretty clear. Follow the instructions, surrender alone, or she dies. I didn't think about it twice. I left in the middle of the night.


	8. Chapter 8

**ANNABETH POV**

Did you know you could get _that_ mad at someone in a dream? Well, maybe you need to be a demigod and to be dating the world's most annoying boyfriend, Percy Jackson. First he ignored me for a month, not caring about anything I said, not spending one single second with me, and then THAT? He just RAN AWAY, in the middle of the night! Wait until I wake up, that's not going to be pretty.

At least for now I had an eye on him. I followed him in my dream. If only I could be awake to slap him right across the face and _then_ let him run straight to his death and get the pleasure to watch him die.

Good thing was: I was following him now, so I definitely would have the chance to find him and watch him die. I watched him run to the van we hadn't had the chance to bring back to Camp Half Blood, and take the motorway. I watched him going right in the middle of the desert, where another thousand, at the very least, monsters were waiting for him. Ophelia was there too, held up by one of the monsters, gagged but apparently unharmed. But right when the dream was getting interesting (how could he possibly imagine that by going alone he would be any good to bring back Ophelia?), it changed.

I forgot all about Percy when I saw where I was – and who was there. I'm sure if it was a normal dream I would have woken up when I saw the twelve pairs of eyes of the Olympian gods staring at me. Fortunately, they weren't watching me. They were watching what was behind me: an image of Percy, floating over the fire. All the gods were there, Zeus still in his golden dressing gown (hopefully I will forget that sight when I'll wake up), Dionysus snoring in his corner (apparently coming back from a party, judging by the bottle of wine in his hand), and my mother, Athena, looking paler than I had ever seen her (not that I had seen her that much). "You all remember what this is, don't you?" she said, addressing the rest of the council.

"Of course we do," Poseidon continued "the stele we've been trying to destroy for centuries?! Hiding if from everybody and everything?! Blood offerings?! Who wouldn't remember that?" His beard seemed to go whiter and whiter as he talked, his eyes wide with worry.

"But it's been millennia Uncle, I don't see how could these monsters possibly know about this stele and how it works" Artemis continued.

"I'm afraid the few sentences written in Greek in the arch around the stele are enough to guide them on how to make the offering" Athena responded.

"How do we know if they speak Greek? I thought they were monsters" Aphrodite continued, looking just as stunning as ever. I guess she could just pop out of her bed with a hangover and still look perfect.

"They aren't just any kind of monsters. They were created only in the last century, and they are anti-demigods, just as much as the giants were created specifically to oppose each of us. If demigods can read Greek, so can they" Athena continued to explain.

"We have to stop them" Poseidon said, his voice cracking. His beard was definitely white now, and I could even see his features changing, aging right under my eyes.

"We can't, Brother, you know that."

"There isn't any prophecy, there isn't anything preventing us to do that. Is there, Apollo? You were in the cave of Delphi, you said yourself your researches were inconclusive." Apollo didn't respond. Of all the gods that were actually paying attention, he seemed the least worried. He was watching the image intently as though it was a scientific TV programme.

"Yes," Zeus continued "there are the Ancient Laws. If your son has to die on the stele, so will he."

"He isn't simply going to die, you know his soul will never go to the Underworld. This is worst than death. I can't simply watch him bleed and see his blood burning as an offering to us. Our own blood, Brother, our own blood is going to get burned as an offering. You know what this means." If anything, Poseidon sounded desperate. I had no idea what they were talking about. But burning Percy's blood and preventing his soul from going to the Underworld didn't sound so good.

"I know, Brother. But it is in the Fates' hands. I know this is not desirable, why do you think I authorised you to send that dream to that girl?"

This time I really had the twelve pairs of eyes staring straight at me, and this time, I really woke up.

It was really fortunate that it was so hot that I had decided to take the covers off; otherwise they'd be on fire. I was steaming, and my skin was feverishly hot. I still felt the look of the gods on me, as though they were watching me in their hearth in the middle of the Throne Room – which they probably were, I realised.

If I understood well, it was yet another threat to the gods, and it was my job to take care of it. That's only natural.

I started thinking back into my dream. I had never heard of a stele for blood offerings to the gods, and apparently I would not find information on that in a book. If I understood what Poseidon said, this stele was dangerous, hidden and kept a secret for so long. There was nothing in mythology that could help me. At least I knew where to go.

I forgot all about my anger against Percy. We'll deal with that when I'll have him in front of me – alive. But apparently it wasn't just about saving him; this offering would be dangerous for the gods – it would also be about saving Olympus. I was starting to have experience with that.

I got out of bed and informed Frank and Reyna about what I'd seen. It was a good thing that reinforcement from Camp Half-Blood had arrived the week before – counting Reyna, who had fully recovered, even though she couldn't remember precisely what had happened.

We didn't lose any more time. We prepared the legion as fast as we could. I took care of assembling the reinforcements from Camp Half Blood – counting of course Nico, Will and Piper.

During the journey to the desert where the stele was, I couldn't help but think about the prophecy. I still hadn't told anybody about the Last Prophecy – which words haunted me now.

 _The Earth Mother shall rise again_

 _From the Saviour of Olympus's pain_

 _Sacrifice must open his veins_

 _For his blood must be lost in vain_

 _The New Order will be his legacy_

 _Made from his failure or his victory_

 _Sealing Olympus's destiny_

 _For this is the Last Prophecy_

But even Apollo hadn't told it the other gods, and I guess I should not even know. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but when you think about what all this meant… We had to focus on saving Percy first.

I could only see one thing: the monsters were going to use Percy's blood to bring Gaia back. I had no idea how this worked, but we seemed pretty close to the part it says that the Saviour of Olympus had to sacrifice himself, with his blood lost in vain… There was still something wrong though. How could he be the Saviour of Olympus if he was going to bring Gaia back?

Piper brought me back to reality. We had arrived to the valley I had followed Percy to in my dream. And sure enough, if you went on top of hill and looked beyond, you could see the thousand of monsters amassed around what seemed from here like a little stone. I couldn't imagine what was going on there. I could only hope he was still alive.

Reyna crouched next to me and started staring at the valley with her binoculars. "No doubt, these are our monsters. A thousand copy of the exact same annoying face." She said. "I promise, if I could just…" she stopped mid-sentence.

"Reyna? What is it?" I asked her. I looked at her. It was hard to judge her expression under the binoculars, but I could see her getting paler. "Reyna? What do you see?" I tried again.

"He's there… He's… on the stele." She took the binoculars off her face and I could finally see her expression. She was generally difficult to read – but not today. Whatever she had seen… I didn't want to know.

"I believe in him" I said out loud. "I know he'll be fine. I believe in him." I started feeling tears coming up in my eyes. But I wasn't going to cry. He was fine, and he needed our help.

We got ready extremely fast. Legionnaires and Greeks alike had understood the criticality of the situation. We were outnumbered, but we couldn't let Percy there. I addressed the crowd in front of me – a mix of Greeks and Romans, a mix of cohorts. There was no order, only a common goal that united us. I knew Reyna and Frank were doing the same with their parts of demigods.

"Percy was always there for us. He guided us to many victories. He fought the Titan Kronos, he fought the Giants, he fought Gaia; he fought many wars, for us. He fell into Tartarus, and got back out, for me. He is, without any doubt, the most powerful and the most important demigod ever existing. He brought peace between the two camps, he united us, and he was always there when we needed him. But today he needs us. So we need to get down there and fight. Yes we're out numbered. Yes those monsters nearly defeated us last time. But this time, they took one of our own, our leader, and there is nothing that can stop us from getting him back." They all screamed in unison. I pointed my sword up, and screamed "For Percy!" before storming down the valley, the rest of them on my tail.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Hey guys!**_

 _ **First of all I'd like to say thank you, you're more and more to read/follow/favorite my story.**_

 ** _Special thanks to Calefe and Irwin2000 for the reviews, it's always very encouraging!_**

 ** _Please, don't hesitate to review! I'd love to know what you like about the story - or don't like ;) - and what you think will happen next!_**

 ** _I hope the last chapter on Annabeth POV wasn't too misleading ^^ I just thought it would be cooler that way ;)_**

* * *

 **PERCY POV**

I will spare you the details of how it feels to wake up in a pool of blood – your own blood. I had an enormous cut in my arm – the other arm, and another cut than the one I already had. I felt completely numb. I didn't know if I felt more cold from the lack of blood or more burnt by the sun. I honestly had no idea how I was still alive.

I remembered everything. I remembered how I arrived there, gave Ophelia the keys to the van, and watched her go, only hoping and praying she would be fine. I also remembred them attaching me to the stele, cutting into my flesh. I had been on that stele before the sun was fully up. It didn't take me long before I passed out.

Do you remember how I had that feeling during the battle, when Ophelia murmured into my ear she believed in me, even though she was a few meters away? That's what happened when I woke up. I simply felt a hand on my shoulder, and I heard her voice – that voice I could never forget: "I believe in him. I know he'll be fine. I believe in him." Then I got the sensation even stronger – like a few hundred people had their hands on my shoulders and were screaming my name.

I know it sounds weird. I didn't understand it either. But what I did understand though is that the demigods were there. I saw them running down the valley – for me. And that was enough. They were risking their lives, for me. I wasn't going to let that happen.

I can't explain what happened next. I simply thought about breaking the stele and my bounds. I felt a strange sensation, as if a wave was leaving me, and the rock beneath me started shaking. Then the earth started shaking all around me, and I managed to break my left hand free. The monsters around me were running everywhere, not understanding what was going on. With my left hand, I freed the other, and finally freed my legs. I will, again, leave out the details of my blood on that stele. Believe me, you don't want to know.

Of course they hadn't cared about the fact that my pen would reappear in my pocket after a while – they knew I was going to be bound to a rock to die before that would happen. Fortunately, I wasn't dead, and Riptide was waiting for me. I took it out and started fighting.

It all became a blur. Partly because I was fighting like a madman and partly because the dust soon became so thick around me I had no idea where I was. Imagine what it's like to turn monsters to dust in a _desert_.

I had no idea how long I had been fighting. I just kept going, vaporising countless monsters. I didn't even feel tired. I didn't get injured. I guess when you're already covered in your own blood you can't get anymore hurt.

And then I saw her. She was fighting a monster that seemed more heavily armed than the others. "Annabeth!" I screamed. She didn't hear me. I ran towards her, vaporising monsters on the way (for good measure). I jumped in front of her and engaged with the monster. I know she'll probably kill me for that, but it didn't matter.

The monster looked surprised and confused and I took advantage. I swung Riptide in his sword so hard, aiming towards the hilt. The sword flew out of his hand.

"You should be dead" he said, defending himself from Riptide with his shield.

"Well, I'm not." I kept moving on him, striking again and again with my sword.

"You bled on that stele for more than half a day, you should be dead." He took a dagger out of a hidden sheath under his armour, and resumed fighting. He stepped in, preventing me from using my strongest strike. "It doesn't matter. I can kill you now." He knocked Riptide out of my hands in one, swift move I hadn't seen coming. I was now bare-hand, affronting a monster with a sword and a shield. But I had trained for this. I knew exactly what to do.

When the opponent is materially stronger, he will attack, and will forget all about defence – thinking he has already won. Sure enough, he stepped forward, throwing his blade towards my throat. I simply ducked forward, and sized his wrist – simple, but effective. I took advantage of his unbalance and knocked one of his feet from under him. He fell on the ground, face first. I took his sword, put a foot on his back as he tried to get back up, throwing his shield aside. "Bad idea" I told him, putting the tip of the sword on his neck. A monster a bit farther away turned his head and saw me. He started towards me screaming, "Kill the demigod! Save the General!"

In a split second, I put the pieces together. Those monsters were all the replicas of one that was the 'original'. The replicas would just vaporise, but only the 'original' would go to Tartarus. Destroy the 'original', and you destroy them all. The monster I just under me was heavily armed and protected, and this other monster was calling him the General, calling on the other to protect him. I made the decision: kill him, and everything was over.

He had time to say one last thing before I vaporised him: "It's not me."

The monster that had called to the General's help was only a few millimetres away when he turned to dust, followed by the others that had answered to his call. When I looked around, I saw that all fighting had ceased – all monsters gone.

I looked around. The cloud of dust was so thick it stung my eyes and my throat. I stumbled around to find a way out, going uphill. When the cloud started thinning, I saw the assembly of demigods at the top of the hill. I started towards them, searching the crowd for Annabeth. I had been so selfish lately, I was sure she would just kill me herself.

It was actually way worse than that. She saw me, looked me straight the eyes. I could imagine what was going on in her mind. She was thinking something like 'I'm glad you're okay, but you've hurt me too much'. And she just turned away. I guess a straight up slap across the face would have hurt less. I started towards her. "Annabeth! Anna…"

I just blinked, right? You know, everybody blinks all the time, it's just a normal thing, and when you open your eyes, not even conscious that they closed in the first place, you see the exact same thing than the half second before. But no. When I opened my eyes, I was on a marble floor, a gigantic throne I knew all too well towering above me. I stopped in my tracks, my hand still extended in front of me in the hope to catch Annabeth, her name dying in my mouth.

"Beth…"


	10. Chapter 10

I looked up. My dad was looking down at me, an actual _smile_ on his face, and said: "Well, you look terrible Percy."

I looked down at my clothes. I was covered in dried blood – was it blood though? – and monster dust, with two enormous cuts in each arm that had mysteriously stopped bleeding.

I looked around. The whole Council of the Gods was united – not one Olympian was missing. And they were all staring at me. I can tell you, my dad was the only one smiling. If they could, they'd probably all kill me on the spot. Don't ask me why, they're gods, that explains everything.

"This is against the law Zeus, he should be punished" Ares started.

"Nonsense. He didn't do anything wrong" my dad answered.

"The law clearly states…" continued Ares, raising his voice.

"The law doesn't apply in that case" interrupted Athena.

"But the boy clearly did something we are not aware of" Artemis said, clearly not caring to call me "the boy" in front of me.

"Wait, we aren't even sure there's anything yet." Dionysus jumped in. Mr D? Getting involved? Really? What in Hades was going on… "We have only formulated a hypothesis, that we couldn't verify, until now."

To sum up the situation: I was in the middle of the Council of the Gods, and they had no idea of what was going on?

"Well, if the Spirit of Delphi hadn't been imprisoned, we could have known a little more about what's going on here" Hera snapped, throwing a menacing look towards Apollo.

Apollo didn't respond. He was staring at me, intrigued, as though I was a scientific problem that needed solving.

"Hum, can I know what's going on?"

"Come on, don't pretend Jackson, what did you do? Eat the Golden Apples? Made a deal with Hades?" Ares continued, clearly annoyed with… with what?

The whole room exploded in discussion, gods arguing in every direction. Now imagine the voice of twelve super-powerful, 20 feet tall beings, arguing across a gigantic room (big enough to accommodate all of them and their powers).

Lightning cracked and Zeus screamed "Enough!", the room shaking under the strength of his voice. It was a miracle I could actually follow the rest of the conversation – even with the ringing in my ears.

"Apollo" Zeus continued "as you were incapable to protect the Spirit of Delphi, make yourself useful, and see if the boy is really what we think he is."

I was half tempted to ask "And what do you think I am?" but for once in my life I actually kept my mouth shut.

Apollo slowly rose from his throne and shrunk back to human size. I heard him say something like "can't do anything with all that dust" and before I had the time to think about it, I felt as if something was scrubbing me. Sure enough, when I looked down, all the dust and dried blood had gone.

He turned around me, watching me carefully. I couldn't help but giggle. Yes, I had an all powerful god watching me super intently, looking for all the details he could get, and I giggled. He approached the wound on my arm – the one that I got at the Little Tiber over a month ago, and that looked as if it had been made a few minutes ago. I started getting suspicious. He took my arm. I backed away involuntarily. Whatever a god wants to do with me, it can't be good. That's when he squeezed. I tried to get away, expecting pain, but he kept squeezing harder and I didn't feel any more pain. Well, it's never really enjoyable to get your arm squeezed, but it should be a lot more painful with such a deep cut into it.

"Interesting" Apollo murmured.

Blood started dripping off the wound. Apollo took a few drops of it on the tip of his finger, and put his hand over the fire. That should have hurt. But I guess if he did it, it was for a reason.

His eyes widened, and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He was definitely enjoying himself. Sure, it's totally normal to enjoy squeezing a very deep wound and see the blood coming out of it.

The twelve Olympian gods moved in closer from their thrones. Some of them seem to understand Apollo's idea, and sat back into their thrones, a look of bewilderment on their faces. I couldn't help it anymore.

"Hey, can anyone tell me what this is all about? Why is everybody so obsessed about my blood?"

Of course, nobody answered. My dad just looked at me, surprised, and said "Nobody said anything about blood."

Oh crap. Apollo didn't react, but I felt a menacing warm wave coming from him. I got the message: 'just keep your mouth shut'.

Poseidon kept looking at me. He probably knew now that I was hiding something, but he didn't try to question me on it.

Unfortunately, Athena wasn't as understanding. "You are hiding something, demigod. Speak."

Fortunately, I was saved by Apollo, who decided right at this moment to explain his diagnosis. "Ichor" he said, the word resonating nervously in the room. Wait, what? "His blood is turning into Ichor. In fact I believe the process to be nearly over. Blood burns; and even though this blood is not entirely golden, it does not burn."

The twelve gods started talking again. Zeus silenced them again – to the detriment of my hearing – and asked me: "Demigod, how do you explain this?"

It was the last thing I thought I'd hear. A god, asking me to explain something I could not possibly explain, or even start to understand? I didn't think about what I was saying, I just said everything.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the prophecy that says I have to sacrifice myself and bleed to death so I can resurrect Gaia and seal Olympus's fate. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that I bled on that stele for more than half a day and I'm still standing. I don't know. You're the one sitting on the throne and watching us die, so you tell me…"

Yes I just said that to Zeus. If you hear about a hurricane somewhere in America today, do not wonder why. But I don't regret it. I was tired; I was the one who needed answers, not accusations.

Poseidon rose frim his throne and shrunk to face me. I looked him the eyes; whatever he wanted to say, I was not going to simply comply and obey. But he didn't say anything. He approached my arm, and looked at the wound. As he touched it, I felt some kind of warmth going through me. The wound on my right arm (the one the monsters had done to empty me of my blood on the stele) completely disappeared. From the other wound started falling golden drops of pure, golden ichor.

For the first time, the throne room was silent. Apollo was the first one to speak: "This wound is the proof he has done nothing to become immortal. He very certainly didn't eat the Apples of Immortality or his blood would have turned to ichor straight away. I don't think it comes from the blade either. But the fact remains: he is immortal now."

I don't know if I wanted to laugh, cry or scream. I had refused immortality years ago for reasons that are even more valid today. And I had just… become immortal? How is that even possible?

"That is unheard of" Poseidon said to me, as if he had read my thoughts. If I was horrified at the news, him, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine with it. Actually, I thought I could even see a hint of pride in his eyes.

Then I thought of the prophecy. Now there was two lines that made sense: I had scarified myself to save Ophelia, and that's how _sacrifice opened my veins_. And then I had _lost my blood in vain_ in now stele – just as if I had to loose all my blood to replace it with ichor.

But the process had started before. It had started when I got the first wound.

"Tell us about the prophecy" Athena asked. "How did it come to you? And what does it say?"

Apollo jumped in at that point. Thank the gods because I had no idea what I was going to say. "I gave it to him. I thought unwise to talk about it to the Council, as I was afraid to be wrong about it. But it seems clear now that I am not."

Zeus looked like he was going to crush the sun god in tiny pieces. I could actually see little hurricanes forming in his eyes, and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Apollo recited the prophecy as if nothing was happening. And I understood why he hadn't said anything before. I was actually happy to be immortal now, or I'm quite sure I would be dead. I don't think Zeus liked hearing about how Gaia was supposed to resurrect and the sealing of Olympus's destiny – or the fact that this was supposed to be the Last Prophecy.

"I did not fail to protect the Spirit of Delphi" continued Apollo. "It is dying. It was supposed to deliver only this prophecy. It called on Python itself."

"What about the Saviour of Olympus? Are we sure we are talking about Perseus?" Athena asked.

"The second and third lines are already true." My father answered, with the same hint of pride echoing in his voice. "Blood must be lost in vain through sacrifice. That's what happened."

"Yes, but Gaia didn't rise from his pain." Apollo jumped in, apparently interested in the conversation now – possibly relieved that his father hadn't thrown him off Olympus. "And he hardly feels any pain now."

"Maybe it doesn't refer to that pain." Aphrodite suddenly said. "It could be emotional pain. Do you think of someone you have hurt that could make you feel pain in return?" She winked at me on that comment.

Yes I definitely knew someone like that. But I don't see how she could resurrect Gaia…

"We will discuss this subject further between us" Zeus continued. "But, Perseus Jackson, you must now decide the way to follow. You became an immortal for a reason that you must discover. You cannot be a god without my approval. You must find your path now. Either you accept my laws and kneel in front the gods, accepting godhood for a role that I will give you, or you will be a simple immortal, destined to fade as your role in society becomes less important."

Involuntarily, an image popped in my mind. The image of a drawing in a cave, with on the left someone kneeling in front of the Council, and on the right, someone standing with the three symbols of powers at his feet, Riptide in hand. I guess I understood what these drawings meant now.


	11. Chapter 11

I felt like my life I had crumbled to pieces right in front of me. I reappeared at the entrance of Camp Jupiter. I was staring at the Little Tiber where, two years ago, I had created two fists of water and destroyed the gorgons, dispersing their ashes to prevent them from reforming. I was lost then, not knowing who I was, or where I came from. Somehow, I felt the same again.

I was immortal. I wasn't Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, the brave demigod that would risk his life for others anymore. What about my mother? And Annabeth? And everybody else? Who was I to them?

And how could I be the Saviour of Olympus? What had I done that made me different?

I had been staring at the water for a long time when I heard someone behind me. Nico di Angelo came and sat next to me. We sat there in silence for a while, staring in the water. I guessed he knew. Surely, he would know if someone was suddenly incapable of dying. And maybe, he would explain more. After all, knowing about death also means that you know about not dying.

"I have my theory" he told me after a long silence. "First, just so you know, you did die. It is impossible for a demigod to become a god without dying. That is because a mortal soul, belonging to Hades, cannot belong to Olympus and become immortal. I felt you dying, but you never went to the Underworld."

"Well, maybe we should have a little funeral party then."

Nico didn't laugh at the joke.

"A mortal soul is fed by youth until it get consumed – or killed. An immortal soul though feeds on believes."

We continued to stare in silence at the Little Tiber, the sun setting down slowly at the horizon. I heard the sounds of chatter behind me; campers getting back to their barracks after diner. I hoped nobody would see me. I just couldn't face to tell them. I was better here, staring at the water.

Then it hit me. Immortal souls feed on believes.

"Nico, you said it was impossible for a demigod to become a _god_ without dying. Do you think I have become a god then? I mean, Zeus made it clear that I could be either an immortal that basically will fade because I wouldn't have a role, or a god if he gave me the right to be."

"I think you don't obey any rules Percy, never have, never will. And I think you know deep down what you are the god of. You know what believes fed you."

"Well, let's say, I have my theory" I said, winking at him. He smiled, and that made me smile. Nico could be creepy when he wanted, but I'll always feel protective of him – even though right now he seemed to be doing better than me.

"I also have another theory" he continued. "About the wound."

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Well, it all started getting weird when you had that wound, right?"

"Yeah, but you said it yourself, you need to die to become a god."

"Yes, but what if, as Zeus never made you a god, it had taken more time than that? What if you had needed to _inspire_ the believes before you could use them?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you trained like crazy to get Ophelia back, you kinda trained to be a superhuman, right? Fight like a human, but better? And it's during that time that your blood started changing, through that wound."

"Yeah, it was even weird 'cause the blood inside was changing but the blood out was normal."

"Exactly. I mean, I don't know, I wasn't there. But, yeah, it makes sense. I mean, think about it, during that period of time, you fought so hard for Ophelia, for beating the monsters, but at the same time, you inspired people at camp. We were hearing about you, even at Camp Half Blood. Some admired you, some feared you, and some hated you, but as a whole, you _inspired_ them, all of them. And when we arrived at the top of the hill to attack a thousand monsters, tremendously outnumbered, we didn't question it. We just screamed your name and attacked. Because we all knew that you would have done the same. And the wound was like a bridge, just as if the inspiration you gave to people came into your body through that wound."

I just stared at him for a while. None of what he just said made any kind of sense – I mean, it kind of did, I was just not getting it.

"So you mean that by trying to more than human I became a god? By trying to train so much that I didn't have to use my godly powers I started becoming a god? It doesn't make sense."

"Yes, it does. Just as much as you need to die to become immortal, you need to be human to be a god."

Right, that kind of made sense, although it didn't really… make sense. I could see the logic, but it was kind of twisted.

"And you said yourself that the wound was golden inside and normal outside. Just as if the believes of people were changing you from that wound, but also, that the wound kind of got rid of the human blood, and replaced it. It's like, when you bled on that stele. Your blood just got replaced by ichor."

" _For his blood must be lost in vain_ " I recited. "Yes, and I got that wound when I saw that legionnaire getting killed and I stopped defending myself. And then I got that feeling…" I started to understand. As much as you could understand something like this anyway. My mind started racing. I know, that's so un-Percy-like.

I had had that wound when I saw a legionnaire getting killed. I stopped trying to defend myself; I just wanted to stop the bloodshed. Then I had that feeling of Ophelia telling me she believed in me. Then I had started training like crazy, and then the strange stuff with my wound. I had sacrificed myself for Ophelia. And then I woke up on that stele after dying with the feeling that people – my people, demigods – were screaming my name. And particularly _her_ voice, saying she believed in me.

Yes, somehow, this made perfect sense. Somehow.

I decided to change the subject. All that thinking made my head spin. Apparently being immortal didn't enhance my reflexion ability.

"So, is it true for you and Will?" I asked, out of the blue. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Nico blushing furiously.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Well, ya know, there was a lot of rumours going on…"

"There's always rumours at camp…"

"Yeah but… There are a lot of people that believe this one."

He didn't answer. His fingers ran nervously to his skull ring.

"And so what if it is?" He answered after a while.

"Nothing. I'm just curious. And happy for you. You know, it would never have worked between us anyway…" I teased him

"Oh shut up. I told you, you're not my type." He teased back, a smile spreading on his face.

"Ah well, shame, now that I'm so important!"

We started laughing and cracking jokes, while the sun was setting on the side of the hills. Tomorrow, I would have to face my responsibilities. I would have to face Annabeth and the others, and explain what was going on. But for now, I could enjoy myself, with my friend.

* * *

 _ **Here's the explanation chapter! Hope it makes sense! If I forgot to explain an aspect, don't hesitate to tell me !**_

 _ **Hope you like the friendship Percy/Nico, I just think they deserve it ;)**_

 _ **Now we can move on to another level :)**_

 ** _Oh and thanks Calefe for the new review! Hope you enjoyed that chapter too!_**


	12. Chapter 12

"I'd better go" Nico said when he heard the last sounds of campers getting to their barracks. I nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." And he went off towards camp.

I went back to my contemplation of the water. If I went back in, I'd have to face Annabeth. I knew I had wronged her and I should want to talk to her and make things right. But I didn't know if it was still possible. I didn't think of the consequences when it all happened. I became so obsessed about saving Ophelia, and training. I knew why now, but it didn't mean she would understand. And what was I supposed to say now?

"In some aspects" said a voice I recognized straight away "your life is going to get a lot easier, and in others, a lot more complicated." Poseidon sat next to me, where Nico was a few minutes ago. "For example, I couldn't be here right now if you were still a demigod. But you will have a lot more responsibilities."

"You know I refused godhood once, and there was a reason."

"I know that, but the Fates chose you, and that is for a reason too."

"I don't care. I don't want it." I turned to look at him. If there was someone in the world who could change that, it would be him.

"Sometimes, it's not a matter of what you want, but of doing your best with what you have. I know that with the Fates and the prophecies it always seems like your future was decided for you and that whatever you do, it doesn't matter. But it isn't true. Prophecies guide you, they don't predict the outcome. This prophecy does not refer to you particularly, it refers to the one that got on that stele and scarified himself for the good of others. And _that_ is who you are."

I didn't know what to answer. I could see where he was going with this, but right now, I just couldn't get over the fact that something had just changed my life without my permission – and it wasn't a small change.

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

"You know I won't tell you that. I may have the right to be in your life, but it doesn't mean that I'll start telling you what to do. Just know that that choice is still yours."

"There's always an easy, attractive option, isn't there?"

"Yes."

"But it's not the good one."

"The good decision is the one you choose and act on."

"If I choose to be a god then, I have to find what I'm the god of, and assume the responsibilities."

"And face your friends, yes."

"My friends, my life… It's all going to change."

"Percy, everything is about to change. And whatever your decision is. You see, the prophecy mentions a New Order, but it doesn't say what it is going to be made of. What it says though is that whatever your choice is, it's going to change everything."

* * *

I entered the apartment as quietly as possible. Annabeth and I were still living there, in front of the Senate in New Rome. I had been sleeping in the couch for ages. A month ago I said it was because I was training from early in the morning to late in the evening and I didn't want to disturb her. Now I guessed I just did it because I didn't want to deal with her – I was just too obsessed about training. I cursed as the door creaked when I opened it. Luckily, for someone who's slept in Tartarus, it takes more than a squeak to wake you up.

I lied awake for a long time that night. I had no idea how I could explain all that to Annabeth – to anybody. "Hey guys, it's me, Percy, you know why I've been so selfish lately? Why, I'm a god of course!" No, that definitely wasn't going to be easy.

When I woke up in the morning, I still couldn't face the talk with Annabeth. Luckily, when I looked around the flat, she was already gone. I decided there was nothing better than the roman baths to clear my mind.

I loved roman baths. Nothing better than super hot water and vapour all around you to find peace and quiet. I had been in the water for maybe ten minutes when I heard a familiar voice not far from me, coming from somewhere within the cloud of vapour. "I hate water. I really hate water. Someone in here? With a bit of luck I'll electrocute someone again."

I was half tempted to pretend I wasn't there, but when I thought about electricity and water (particularly that very good memory of that battle on the Tiber) I decided against it. I answered: "I'm here Jason, please be careful!"

"Percy?" I saw his face appearing in the vapour. "What are you doing here? People have been looking for you everywhere!"

"Well, I'm here."

"Oh man, what happened?"

"Long story…"

"Ok. And what's the short version?"

"I'm a god." The words just blurted out of my mouth. Jason didn't react. It was just like he'd known all along.

"Well it does explain a lot of things" he said after a while.

And that's it. That's all he said. We just sat there in the water for what, five, ten minutes? Not saying anything. And that's very possibly the best reaction he could have had.

* * *

I did tell you there was nothing better than a roman bath for clearing your mind. And that's exactly what happened. When I got out I knew what I was going to do. Annabeth would somewhere in New Rome. She had insisted on taking her classes and starting college as planned.

I didn't know where she would be exactly, but I tempted the first place that came up in my mind: the library. The library was enormous; rows upon rows of leather-bound books were covering the walls up to the ceiling. There were gigantic windows everywhere, letting the daylight enter every corners of the rooms, reflecting on the white marble of the walls and floors. I looked at the list of shelves and found the row corresponding to "architecture". Sure enough, she was there, sitting in one of the wooden chairs, lost in a book big enough to kill a cyclopes.

I approached her slowly. I was positively terrified that she would suddenly see me and start screaming. I promise, that girl could more terrifying than a fully transformed Fury. But she didn't see me until I sat next to her and said in a small voice "We need to talk". She turned to me with a start. She looked at me with her stormy grey eyes, and for one second I thought maybe we could just make out right here and forget all about what happened. But her expression hardened and I forgot all about the idea.

She closed her book and went to put it back in its shelf. She motioned for me to follow and she started towards the exit.

"I have only half an hour before my next class, make it quick" she told me, sitting down at the café just outside the library. I wanted to say maybe this wasn't the right place, but seeing how determined she was, I thought it was better to just get along with it.

"Look, first, I just wanted to say…" I started.

"If you're going to say you're sorry," she interrupted, "you can stop right there. I'm waiting for an explanation, you're way past the excuses." I stared at her for a second. I was going to say sorry. Then I saw the hurt in her eyes. That's when I realised she was also past the point where she was ready to forgive me. So I forgot about saying sorry. I launched into the explanation of everything that had happened, from how I felt Ophelia calling me at the Little Tiber, for how I got the cut and how my blood started changing, to how I ended up in the middle of the Council of the Gods with ichor instead of blood.

I tried to read her expression as I went on with the story. I could see her think about it, and trying to understand, but I had no idea how she _felt_. That's the problem with her. She's good with ideas and stuff but when it comes to feeling she's impossible to predict.

When I finished we just sat there in silence. For the first time I felt as if there was a wall between us. It's really hard to explain, it just felt like she was in a world and me in another, and there was no way to communicate between these two worlds. I didn't see it happen, but I had feeling it had been going on for a while.

"So what now?" she asked.

She summed up the whole situation with that question. What now? Truth was, I had no freaking idea what I was supposed to do. Zeus had said I had to find the reason why I had become a god. My father had said that whatever my decision, the destiny of Mount Olympus and of the gods was resting on my shoulders. She seemed to read the despair in my eyes and went on. "Look, to me, it seems that all this has to do with the demigods. That cut, the training, the stele, what Apollo said… It all comes down to you fighting for others. And even the monsters. I had this dream from your father and my mother explained how the monsters had been created as anti-demigod."

"I know. That's what I thought too."

"And Gaia hasn't risen yet so that part of the prophecy is still not realised. It's probably one of these lines that you think you understand but it means something totally different in the end. Maybe it doesn't talk about Gaia at all. I guess now it's just a matter of figuring out the rest of the prophecy. That might start with finding what you are the god of and what you have to do. And I think you're the only one who can do that."

I felt the unasked question hovering in the air between us. I couldn't ask it. I couldn't resolve to hear her say it. I looked down on my untouched coffee.

"I should get going. My class will be starting in five minutes." She started to get up, taking her bag. She took out her purse and paid for her coffee that she hadn't touched either. I was still staring at the table. The situation felt so definite. I was pretty sure if she walked out of that café without telling me where we were in our relationship, there wouldn't be anything left to tell. So I asked it, just before she left.

"What about us?"

She turned around, tears in her eyes, and simply said: "Goodbye, Seaweed Brain."

* * *

 _ **I promise this is**_ **not** _**the end of Percabeth - I love them too much. I just have a lot of things in store for them.**_

 _ **Thanks Rosycat for the reviews! I really appreciate it! Hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story too!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Jason POV**

So far, my greatest achievement in being the Pontifex Maximus had been to avoid a war between Greeks and Romans over a burnt marshmallow during a campfire at Camp Half Blood. And even then, I had been greatly helped by Annabeth who opened a new pack and distributed them. I know, it sucks.

Then I had gotten myself captured. That I couldn't really have helped it. I mean, we never saw the monsters coming. We basically just fell asleep and woke up in a totally different place (I know, familiar sensation right? At least this time I had all my _real_ memories).

Then I had gotten my ass kicked by a herd of freaking monsters that were the weirdest things I had ever seen - and I had seen a lot of weird things. To tell you the truth, I really hated - and feared - those monsters. Of all the demigods I had been the one the most affected by them. The worst thing about them was their ability copy your powers. It was actually more than simply a copy, it just felt like they _absorbed_ them.

I had a dream when they hit me with the sleeping spell on Half Blood Hill. And I couldn't seem to get rid of it.

* * *

 _I was standing in the middle of ruins surrounded by olive and pine trees. In the distance, I could see a long,_ _white sand beach, with a calm, turquoise sea extending to the horizon._

 _In front of me was a boy with strange features: his face was mismatched, his body too large and too thin at the same time, with arms that seemed too weak to lift a sword, and legs that seemed too big to move correctly. He looked about my age, although something about his demeanour told me he was older. I felt connected to him in a strange way._

 _I heard a strange voice coming from the ruins all around me. It seemed like a modified voice, as if the person talking didn't want me to recognise it._

 _"My son, I give you the power to replicate your body into as many as you desire. These monsters will be able to fight for you and die without you getting harmed. I also give you the power to absorb any power, any magic, and any ability you encounter. This will allow you to fulfil your duties. My son, you must rid the world of all demigods. A Great Prophecy was spoken of a demigod, children of one of the Big Three, that will destroy Olympus. These demigods particularly must be targeted. Demigods are threats to us and will overthrow us if we don't take drastic measures against them._

 _Monsters take many years to develop my son. You must reach the end of your development before this prophecy comes to pass. You will forget the name I gave you at birth. You will be referred to as The Kataemitheosterras, the anti-demigod monster. Eliminate all demigods, and you will be greatly rewarded."_

 _The dream changed. I mean, not exactly changed, because I was in the same place, only it seemed to be some time later._

 _The monster - which name I will never remember - was in front of me again. The same one with his mismatched body, only this time he was surrounded by two other monsters: two boys I knew all too well, looking exactly the same, with the most common features you could imagine. The original monster addressed to someone I couldn't see. "Mother, you called upon me. I believe I have made important progresses in my development. We have eliminated an entire camp of demigods near Paris. I understand this might not be enough, but I promise our mission will be fulfilled before the Great Prophecy."_

 _"Do not call me Mother" the voice from ruins answered, just as distorted as before. "I am a goddess, and you are a monster. You are not my son anymore." I could see the hurt in the monster's face, strangely echoing on the faces of the two monsters surrounding him. "I'm afraid I was wrong. I do not need the demigods to be destroyed after all. I will always hate them, as they are the product of forbidden love, but it appears that a second Great Prophecy will necessitate the gods and the demigods to work together, or the gods are doomed. I'm afraid I no longer need you." The earth split at my feet, swallowing the three monsters. I fell with them too and woke with a start._

* * *

I had dreamt many times of falling into that pit. I had never actually fallen in there, as opposed to Percy, Annabeth or Nico, but I didn't want to attempt it.

I knew from that dream that a goddess had created that monster, and that just because she "no longer needed him" she just threw him into Tartarus. This was so typical of gods. They make their own enemies.

I remembered the monsters saying "It wasn't always our purpose, but I guess it's down to that now" referring to their plan of destroying Olympus. My best guess: they wanted revenge on that goddess for creating them and throwing them in Tartarus when she no longer needed them. If it didn't mean killing demigods, I'd totally agree with those monsters.

But now those monsters were fully able, and they were after us. And as Pontifex Maximus, it was my duty to find out more about these monsters.

I had kept that dream secret from the others simply because I hadn't figured out what it meant yet. I still didn't really know what we were up against. The minimum I could do was to spread the word that our godly powers wouldn't be any use against them, and I did that, right?

I also had another duty. I had promised many minor gods to make sure they were recognised. I had done a good bit of this already, I had spent that last year travelling between camps to oversee the construction of new cabins and new shrines on Temple Hill. I had gone through a lot of trouble to learn about all the minor gods in both the Greek and Roman mythologies, and I had made sure that they were all taught in mythology classes. So you see I hadn't been that useless.

And now apparently there was another minor god that needed help, and it just happened to be my friend.

It had come as a bit of a shock to learn about Percy. I might have acted cool, but really I wasn't. The whole thing was kind of scary. I have to say I felt incredibly useless when it all happened and he saved everybody - I will not admit I was kinda jealous. Ok, don't tell him I said that. But maybe now I could help him.

I found him in the temporary barracks we had installed for the Greeks, that were now all gone back to Long Island. I was expecting to find the place empty, but he was sitting there on one the bunk beds with a big bag at his feet.

"Hey man, what're you doing here?" I asked him.

I didn't quite catch his answer, he murmured something about "messy breakup", but I didn't really know what he was talking about. But at the mention of 'breakup' I thought it was maybe better to change the subject.

"Hey, I was thinking, maybe we should try and see what we could find out about these monsters. I mean, who knows if they're really gone" - I know, I should say to him that I actually am sure they will be back - "and this time we should be prepared."

"Yeah, that's actually kinda what my father told me to do. I mean, him and Zeus, they told me to find out who I am and I can't help but think there's something to discover with these monsters. And you know, when I killed that monster during the battle in the desert and all the others were gone? I thought I had killed the original one and that they would all be dead, but just before I killed him he said 'it's not me'. I don't know exactly what he meant, but I think maybe it wasn't the original and there's others out there."

Ok now I definitely had to tell him.

"Well, now that you mention that, I had this dream about them. I never told you about it because I didn't know what to think of it and I mean, don't blame me you kept a prophecy to yourself so..." And I launched in the explanation of the dream, explaining how the goddess had created a monster, giving him powers and tossed him in Tartarus.

"So typical! How did you say the name of the thing was again?"

"Oh man I don't know it was some weird Greek word. Kata-mytho-terrace?!"

"'Kata' means against, 'mytho' I don't know but 'emitheo' means demigods and 'terras' means monsters. You said these monsters were anti-demigods, and that's what Athena said too to Annabeth in a dream. It would kinda make sense their name means anti-demigod monsters..."

"Yeah, I'll still never remember or even pronounce that name."

"Me neither!"

"So what do we do now?"

"Well, you said these monsters had been created by a goddess, right? So I'd say we should talk to one."

Right, like gods would actually help us on this. Really Percy, that's a really bad idea.

"Look" he continued, "I know what you're thinking - that gods won't help us. But I'm not a demigod anymore and my dad said he was allowed to be in my life now. We're not going to ask the exact answer, we can just ask about that place you saw in your dreams. Maybe it holds some kind of power, and maybe the monsters are still there."

"Well, you're right. I'll get packing. I see you're all ready" I said with a smile. Maybe he'll want to talk about it later, but right now I could see he was quite grateful for the distraction.

And that's how, after a long hug/talk/kiss time with Piper, a son of Jupiter was on his way to Poseidon's palace.


	14. Chapter 14

_**First, a big thanks to all of you that have posted reviews. I really appreciate it! I hope you will like the rest of the story too, and that it is at your level of expectations. Please keep reviewing, it's just so encouraging!**_

* * *

 **Percy POV**

It took me a while to understand the irony of the situation. I was about to bring Jason, a son of Jupiter, to my father's palace. Maybe just that was enough for Poseidon to refuse to help us.

We took a cab up to the harbour where, a few years ago, Hazel, Frank and I embarked for our first quest together. Of course the boat we used had sunk – it wasn't that that I was looking for. Hopefully Tyson had received my Iris message and two hippocampi were on their way to collect us.

Sure enough, when I jumped into the water, they were there, whinnying in complaint because of the levels of pollution of the water. I jumped on Rainbow's back, his front half being a white stallion with a fish tail as a back half, his mane and tail being the colour of a rainbow. We went up to the surface where Jason jumped on the second hippocampus, a bay horse with a dark fish tail, the fins finished by nasty looking stings. I did not want to piss that one.

The hippocampi swam at the surface for what seemed like forever, until Rainbow told me in my mind that we were nearly there and we were going to have to go underwater. Jason had harnessed all the _venti_ he came across, and when I nodded to him, he used them to create a small atmosphere layer around him and we sunk into the water.

I hadn't been to my father palace since the Titan War. It had been completely destroyed by Oceanus then, as my father had had to abandon it as he swam to the rescue of the other Olympians fighting against Typhoon. There were scaffoldings everywhere, the remnants of the gardens covered with tents floating in the currents, probably used as temporary quarters. I know it has been a while since the Titan War, but my dad said it had taken centuries to get his palace to the level it was, so I guess it would again take centuries to rebuild it.

As we grew nearer, mermen started surrounding us, confused looks on their faces. I didn't know if they wanted to arrest us, guide us to my father or kill us on the spot (I mean, kill Jason and hurt me a lot). Apparently they didn't know either.

Suddenly their ranks broke as a merman with an armour studded with pearls pierced through. I recognised the green skin, the two fish tails and the look of superiority on his face: Triton. And he did not look happy.

"You! What are you doing here?"

I was about to answer something not very nice, Poseidon was my father too I had every right to be there, but I stopped myself when I saw he was addressing Jason.

"Children of Zeus are not allowed here!"

Jason opened his mouth but no sound came out of it, he just looked at me with a please-help-me look. I jumped in.

"First, he's a son of Jupiter, and second, he's with me, he's fine."

"Yeah, I noticed he's with you. It doesn't make it okay! How dare you bring someone like him here! You are a shame to our father!"

I did not mean to direct a super cold current in his direction, I promise I didn't mean it – or just a little. It didn't affect him too much, apart from the look on his face that changed from pissed off to murderous. He brandished his trident and was about to say something when someone interrupted him.

"Mermen, scatter." Called my father's voice, having the immediate desired effect. He stood in his chariot, pulled by two enormous hippocampi, a few meters behind his son. "Triton, escort Percy and his friend in the temporary throne room."

"But, Father, this demigod…"

"I know who this demigod is, and I'm sure if Percy brings him here there is a good reason. Now, do as I say."

Triton opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it. Poseidon turned his chariot away after addressing me a small smile. Without saying a word, Triton started swimming towards the palace, Jason and I on his tail – _tails_ to be accurate.

When we got to the ground, we jumped off the hippocampi. Triton led us to a tent that looked bigger and better decorated than the others, golden embroidery glittering in the light. Inside was an accumulation of things probably saved from the wreckage: books, maps, jars, shells… And the middle stood a simple fishing seat on a pedestal – a small replica of my father's throne on Olympus.

Triton staid at the entrance, watching us carefully as though we might decide to blow the place up. Poseidon arrived from an opening on the other side of the tent. "We have started rebuilding the village and houses first" my father said to me, "the palace in itself is still destroyed. This is the tent from which I command my whole kingdom. It's been pretty messy, but I haven't found any architect good enough for the palace's plans. It's been years that architects from all around the world propose plans, and I just don't like any of them. It's hard nowadays to find someone that's a bit different, isn't it?"

"Hum, yeah, sure."

"But I guess you're not here to talk architecture." He smiled at me and sat on his 'throne'. "What did you want?"

"Well, I'm taking your advice. I'm trying to discover who I am and what I'm supposed to do." He smiled at me encouragingly. "And Jason here wants to help. We believe that finding out more about these monsters might be a good place to start." I explained to him everything we knew about the monsters and Jason's dream. He listened carefully, nodding his head here and there.

"So what do you want exactly?" He asked after I finished my explanation.

"Well, we were wondering about that place Jason saw in his dream."

"So, you want information?"

"Yep."

"Then you know that information from a god isn't free, even for you." I saw Triton smiling in the corner of my eye. I think Poseidon saw him too. "There is this ship I am really keen of. It sunk a while ago, but I believe my mermen could repair it. I sent many expeditions to recover it, but apparently a sea monster made it its home and defends it."

"So you want us to get it for you."

"Yes. But of course Percy, you know I do not harm sea creatures. You will have to trap it, not kill it."

"Right, of course." Mental facepalm. _Trap_ a monster? It's already hard enough to kill them… "Hum, I just have a question. How are we supposed to bring back a sunk ship to you?"

"Triton will escort you and bring the ship back." He said, throwing a meaningful look at his son.

"But Father, I have many things to do here. I need to oversee the reconstruction of the training unit, and Mother asked me to…"

"I'll send someone else for the training unit, and don't worry about your mother, I'm sure she can wait."

Triton once again seemed about to argue, but thought better of it. "Very well." He threw us a disgusted look and started going out of the tent, Jason and I following.

I heard my father say one last thing "It'll be the occasion to spend some valuable _brother_ time, don't you think?"

Yeah, right.

We followed Triton who was swimming fast in front of us. I summoned currents behind Jason and I to keep up.

"So, what are we doing now?" I asked my brother.

"I'm bringing you to the ship" he answered coldly. "Don't be too upset if you don't succeed, I'm sure Father'll forgive you."

"Don't succeed? Of course we'll do it. We've fought loads of monsters, we'll be fine."

He threw me a half pity half loathing look over his shoulder. I wondered if he had been the one directing the expeditions Poseidon had talked about… That would explain it.

Eventually, we broke out of the surface. "Alright, you two need to stay close to me" Triton said.

"Hum, what are we doing exactly?"

"We're going to wave-travel."

"Wave-travel? You kidding?"

"No. I'm going to summon a wave, and we'll just float with it, and it'll bring wherever we want to go."

Jason threw me a panicked look. I could see he didn't really like the idea of 'floating wherever the wave brings us'. But before we could say anything, we felt the water rising under us, a wave building up and carrying us – wherever it was going.

When the wave crashed and we sunk back into the water, we were in a completely different place. My nautical senses were telling me we were now in the Atlantic Ocean (or on the other side of America than we were previously), in waters I knew all too well.

"So the ship is here… In the Sea of Monsters?" I asked Triton.

"Obviously" he answered. "Follow me."

"Wait, can we know what kind of monster we're facing?"

"You'll see."

We continued to swim deeper in the water. I had a feeling that whatever was down there, we wouldn't like it too much. I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew exactly where we were, that we had been there before. I mean, yes we already came in the Sea of Monsters, but the Sea is big, I'm talking about that place precisely. I know you think that underwater everything looks the same, but from my prospective, it doesn't, and I was sure we had been there before.

I looked behind me to make sure Jason was keeping up. He seemed pale and disorientated. I won't blame him. I wouldn't like being in the sky for so long. His eyes widened in horror when he saw a shark joining up our little assembly. I stroke the shark just under the fin, just to show Jason there was nothing to worry about. Not sure it worked, as he ended up watching _me_ in horror.

The deeper we went, the calmer the water. No fishes were swimming around, I couldn't feel any sea creatures in the vicinity, even the shark swam away hurriedly.

I started seeing the bottom of the ocean, covered in rocks and seaweed. Seeing this triggered a memory in my mind: I saw myself, a good few years ago, swimming alongside Annabeth in a bubble of air, my ears plugged with wax to avoid hearing the siren's singing. I remember the vision I had: her, sitting with her father and Athena, with a new re-designed Manhattan in the distance. I remember how she wanted to hear about her fatal flaw – her pride – and how together we had swum back to the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. I shook off the memory – too painful.

When I came back to reality, I realised something. We _had_ been there before. Not far away from here, I could feel the presence of an island. I was pretty sure this wasn't the island where we heard the sirens. But I'm positive I knew that island.

Between two massive rocks, we started seeing the outline of a mast. Getting closer, we could make out the form of a ship; an old three-master sailing ship.

Everything happened so fast then. Just before we got snatched up by a current, certainly mastered by Triton, I saw two things: the name of the ship, nearly faded out, and the monster guarding. My dad wanted us to recover the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ , guarded by freaking Shrimpzilla – a Skolopendra. And it had seen us.


	15. Chapter 15

I had no idea why my father wanted the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. Right now though, I couldn't care less. I had joined my brother in raising currents as we were shooting to the surface, Shrimpzilla on our tail. Maybe that's what's my father had in mind when he said "spend some valuable brother time".

Just as the thing was catching up with us, we broke the surface, flying upwards with the momentum. We crash-landed on a beach – I mean, Triton and I crash-landed, Jason just smoothed his descent by mastering the winds.

"You couldn't have done that for the three of us, could you?" I growled at Jason.

"Children of Zeus are selfish, very much like their father." Triton said, brushing sand off his clothes.

"Son of Jupiter, thanks, and I had _venti_ around me, not you. I would have helped you Percy if I could. Sorry I was a bit _distracted_ by a freaking Skolopendra. You could have said it, don't you think?"

"Of course not, gods don't simply talk to demigods and tell them what's going to happen. Either you're good enough to save your ass or you die. That's the rule."

"Guys! There's no need to fight." Gods, I couldn't believe this sentence just left _my_ mouth!

I looked around, taking in our surroundings. You can probably guess where we were. But the island was barely recognizable.

Last time, the Golden Fleece was making the valley beautiful, with loads of vegetation and animals – a place with _life_ , like a small paradise. Now the island seemed completely deserted, the vegetation was raw and short, even the flesh-eating sheep were gone. I could only pray that Polyphemus had also decided to go.

Just to refresh your memory: a few years ago (I'd rather not count, thanks) Annabeth, Clarisse, Tyson, Grover and I arrived on this island on our quest to find the Golden Fleece. There, we encountered a half-brother of mine – _another_ – Polyphemus: a giant Cyclopes that was grazing his flesh-eating sheep, guarding the Golden Fleece. We had fought him, making him believe that Nobody was tricking him again, and we had taken the Golden Fleece. But on our way back to the ship, Clarisse – that idiot – kept taunting Polyphemus, who threw a boulder to the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ and sunk it.

I was not happy to be back here. I did not want to see Polyphemus again. "We have to go." I told the others.

"Go? What's the matter? We need a plan; otherwise we have no chance to trap the Skolopendra" Jason said.

"What, scared, Jackson?" Triton taunted.

"No, you don't understand. I've been here before and we barely escaped with our lives. That ship we saw, it's the ship we used for the Golden Fleece quest with… Clarisse and Tyson." I couldn't bring myself to mention _her_ name out loud. Jason would know she was there too, and well, it wasn't the most important thing to mention here.

"So, what's on here?"

"A very, very pissed off giant Cyclopes."

"Cyclopes. Cyclopes are good, Jackson, don't worry about them."

"Well, maybe you don't, but last time I met him, we didn't exactly hug and spend some brother time together."

Right at that moment, we heard an enormous ROAR followed by a noise of explosion. I looked up in the direction of the noise. I was half expecting to see another boulder flying at us. But what I saw didn't really make sense.

In the middle of a wall of dust and flames, I could see the outline of something big, an elongated shape with wings and lights flying here and there. The thing seemed to have crashed from the sky. It stopped abruptly after sliding on the ground for several meters. It was making _metallic_ noises.

Jason, Triton (who had changed his two tails for two legs) and I were staring at the thing, incapable to decide whether to run away or to help.

When we heard the female voice screaming, we decided maybe it was better to stay away. "I'M TIRED OF THIS. IT'S THE THIRD TIME IT HAPPENED TODAY!"

We heard another faint voice answering, but it was too far away and we couldn't make out what it was saying.

But when the dust started falling and we recognised what had fallen from the sky, we totally forgot about staying away. Jason and I just ran straight up to it. The massive wings, the bronze and gold scales, the giant flashlight rubies, there was no mistake: we were standing in front of Festus!

"But that's impossible!" said Jason next to me.

Hearing his voice, the girl that had just screamed skirted around the fallen bronze dragon. When I recognized her, I immediately regretted not to have run away when we had the occasion.

She was exactly how I remembered her: beautiful without trying, with her caramel hair and her dark, almond-shaped eyes. I stared at her for a second. Then I saw someone appearing next to her. I didn't look away though, until Jason ran towards him, tackling him in an enormous, very un-Jason-like hug, screaming "LEO!"

"Wow, hey man! Happy to see you too!"

"Leo? But..." I started. He looked exactly the same as a year ago, same curly hair, same annoyingly cheerful face, and very much _alive_.

"I know, I should be dead."

He explained how he had known how to destroy Gaia, and how it would mean he would have to die in the process. I tried not to strangle him when he explained he had lied about the Physician's Cure, and asked Hazel and Frank to cover up for him (them I will definitely strangle when I see them again).

"Then I went up on my quest to find Calypso. I prepared a flight plan with the diamond I took from Ogygia, and I found her. It took me a while. I mean, I had to go all the way back to Italy. To Malta, to be more precise."

"Hum, you mean Ogygia was Malta?" I asked, not really understanding what he meant.

"No, but when I crashed there the first time and I took the raft to find you again, I arrived on Malta, so I thought maybe it was a good place to start. Then with the diamond I found Ogygia."

"Right."

"Then we toured Europe for a while. We did Africa also. That's where we were when I got that dream about a massive attack and I thought maybe it was time to come back. I was on my way to Camp Jupiter. I thought it was better to take the more direct route, even though it meant flying over the Bermuda Triangle. I thought Festus would hold up, but not really. There must be some problem with the anti-magnetic shield, I'll check that in a minute."

"So, you were on your way back to Camp Jupiter, huh?" Jason asked. "So noble of you to let us know you're alive."

"I know man, sorry!" Leo answered, holding up his hands in surrender. "I just had a promise to keep." He turned towards Calypso and winked at her. I couldn't help the pang of jealousy in my stomach.

"So you two…" I started asking, going from one to the other.

"Well, yeah, _someone_ keeps his words and comes back for me."

Jason raised an eyebrow at me.

"I deserved that" I said, turning away to avoid her accusing glare. I caught a glimpse of Triton and waved at him to come. He had staid away this whole time, talking to the different spirits or creatures he encountered. He saw me and started towards us.

"Oh man, you don't see the sun very often do you?" Leo said to Triton when he arrived. Seeing nobody laughed at his joke, he continued: "Well, ya know, with the green skin…" Triton threw him a menacing look. "Never mind" Leo murmured hastily. "So, what are you here for?"

"Well, that's a very long story." Jason answered. Then he started explaining everything, from how he got captured to how I became a god and the quest Poseidon gave us in exchange for information.

"Whoa, you… you're a god?" Leo said, looking at me. He poked me on the arm, and looked warily at the bandage on my biceps. Triton rolled his eyes and said with an impatient tone.

"Alright, we have lost enough time. Could we get back to more urgent matters? Like, how are we supposed to trap a Skolopendra?"

"Oh, you can leave that to me" Leo said with a mischievous smile. "You see, travelling around Europe isn't always stress free when you're a demigod, and I have come across a lot of monsters. But first, are you sure we can't kill it? I mean, would Poseidon really know? 'Cause I have this load of Greek fire… Never mind. Trapping is good." He said as he saw the murderous look on Triton's face.

"And what exactly do you intend to do?" Triton asked suspiciously.

"Fishing!"

I could actually feel the warmth coming out of my half-brother, I promise if he could have killed him the spot he would have.

"Hum, yeah, and what do you mean by that?" I asked, trying to diffuse the tension.

"By making a fishing net."

Triton laughed. Nobody seemed to understand why.

"A net? You want to trap a Skolopendra in a net? Seriously? I already knew children of Hephaestus weren't the brightest, but you, you're obviously really dumb. Really, I'd challenge you to build a net big enough for the beast and all its legs and tentacles, strong enough to hold it and prevent it from swimming, and to actually trap the thing inside it once you've built it. I would challenge you, if it hadn't already failed."

If I suspected before that Triton had led the other expeditions to get the ship back, now I was sure.

"Challenge accepted" Leo answered through gritted teeth, steam coming out of his nostrils. He took out his Archimedes sphere and a few tools from his tool belt, and said: "Now kids, I'm gonna need some room, so you go play somewhere."

Jason and I looked at each other and decided it was probably best to let the Fireball work. We headed back to the beach, followed by Calypso and Triton.

* * *

 _ **Now, hope you liked Leo's come back!**_

 ** _I need your opinion for the next chapter: Percy or Leo POV?_**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Here's an exceptionally long chapter! You have asked for both Percy and Leo POV, so here they come!_**

 ** _Special thanks to all that took the time to tell me their opinions! And thanks to Calefe for your help, you will recognise it when you read ;)_**

* * *

Obviously Polyphemus _had_ deserted the island, because with all the noise we had made it was impossible not to be spotted.

Calypso, Jason, Triton and I sat awkwardly on the beach while Leo was working furiously on his net. None of us had said a word. We were watching the sun setting in the distance.

To my surprise, it's Triton that broke the ice. "So, Calypso right? What brings you here?"

"Well, Leo freed me and took me on adventures. So I pretty much go where he goes."

"I see. Well, I'm Triton, son and heir of Poseidon and Amphi…"

" _Another_ " Calypso answered, rolling her eyes and sighing in disbelief.

"Huh, what do you mean _another_?" Triton asked, surprised by her reaction.

She didn't answer to that. I will deny that I ever flushed at that point – even though my red cheeks probably betrayed me. Unfortunately, Triton saw that.

"Oh, right." He said with a smile. "So, you and Percy have met before."

Nobody answered.

"Let me guess: you were sent to her island and you did just like any heroes; you left her there, heartbroken" Triton continued. I promise I would have loved to strangle him right there.

"I did make the gods promise to release her" I said defensively.

Nobody answered to that either.

Before anybody felt the need to break the awkward silence, Leo arrived running behind us. "Guys! I need your help. Jason and Triton," who looked at Leo with pure loathing, not too happy to be ordered around "if you could find me ropes or something to make ropes, it would be amazing. Calypso, I need small, agile hands. Can I count on you?"

"Of course" Calypso answered, glad to get up, smiling tenderly to Leo.

Leo smiled in response and added: "Oh and Percy I could use some hydraulic force as well."

I got up reluctantly and followed. Ahead of me, Calypso got closer to Leo and laced her hand through his. I couldn't help the feeling building in my stomach – although whether it was jealousy over Calypso or heartache over Annabeth, I didn't know.

"Alright, so I have this load of gold and bronze I've been carrying around. I didn't know if I'd ever need it, but I'm glad I took it now! So I've created this forge, I'll make sure it's hot and it'll melt the metals. Then it goes down in that tube here, and that's where Percy I need you to bring cold water around that so that it cools down and the metal hardens just enough to still be able to twist. That'll be thin enough and strong enough to make a net. Then Calypso you'll do the net. Got it?"

Calypso and I nodded, and we set off to work. Leo created a fireball on his hand, and put it under a rock with a curved shape in which remnants of golden and bronze weapons were waiting to melt. It took ages, and as the time went on, Leo started getting more and more on fire. The metal started to melt and flew down an iron tube. I summoned water from the sea nearby and made it stay around the tube. On the other side of the tube, a thin thread of semi-gold semi-bronze started to appear. Calypso took it and used the kind of wooden weaving loom that Leo had made.

All too soon, the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and the three of us were still working on the net, sweating under the heat emanating from Leo. Triton and Jason had come back from their expedition to find ropes. They had found some that Calypso added to the weaving of the net.

When we started getting seriously tired, only half of the stock of metal had melted. Triton had decided that he had done enough and never helped me with the water. Jason had tried to help Calypso but nearly broke the still fragile thread of gold, and decided he was better off being on guard duty. Leo was the only one who could keep the makeshift forge hot enough. And of course we couldn't stop until all the metal was melted and threaded.

It took us nearly half of the night, and when we finally finished, we were so exhausted that Jason ended up being on guard duty for the night. I know I was immortal and I wasn't supposed to get tired by using my godly powers, but maybe certain abilities just took more time to develop. I didn't feel that much different anyway.

Okay, I was a bit different – for the first time of my life I actually woke up before everybody else. I walked up to Jason and told him to get rest. The sun was just rising on the horizon. I had a look around the group. Triton had retreated some place underwater. Leo and Calypso were spooning nearby.

I couldn't help but stare. I found myself imagining what would my life had been if I had staid with Calypso so long ago. I would never have had to face Kronos, or Gaia, or any other monster. I would never have been taken away from home, months erased from my life forever. I would never have been on-board the Argo II, and I wouldn't have fallen into Tartarus. I know all these adventures made me stronger – so strong that I was the first demigod to ever become a god from the mere strength of his will. But I will never forget the pain. Being stripped away from my life with no memories, feeling used and getting nothing in return, facing my worst nightmares and death countless times… And _her_. When I got on that raft to leave Ogygia, all I could think about was her. And all I could think about since then was her too. We have had so many happy times together, and yet tonight I seemed to remember only the pain. I had always fought for her – with her. It was never about the gods, or about me. And where had it led me?

The sun started appearing over the horizon. Calypso steered in her sleep. I continued to watch her, wondering about everything I could have avoided if only I had staid. I was too deep into my thoughts to realise she was awake – and watching me.

"Some injuries can never heal. And it doesn't have to be a bad thing."

I continued to look at her, intrigued. What did she just say?

"Some people share love, some share hatred, and some share pain. It doesn't matter what brings you together, what matters is its strength. You and I do not share any of this. Leo and I… He has no real parent present in his life, and he's always felt left aside, unloved. We share pain. But now that we have each other, sometimes we need a reminder."

I wasn't sure I totally understood what she meant. But I had a feeling I'd understand – in due time. One thing I was sure of anyway: Calypso and I had made peace.

* * *

 **LEO POV**

Of course we _had_ to fall on the island where Percy and Cie were. For once I had actually tried to _think_ : go to Camp Jupiter so you avoid the Percy-Calypso reunion, even though Camp Jupiter was the last place on earth I'd want to go. Remember last time I went? A disaster.

And what's more, when I woke up, I found her talking with him. I was burning with jealousy – literally. I know Calypso wouldn't do anything, and I know I shouldn't have any reason not to trust Percy. But, as unlikely as it seemed, Calypso – the most beautiful woman of all women – was with me, and I wasn't about to let her go.

"Hey guys! You hungry? It's Chef Leo's Special this morning! Who wants?" I called out as I grabbed a frying pan from my tool belt. I took eggs and bacon from our supplies and lit up a fire on a rock. Calypso, Percy and Jason moved around the fire and waited calmly for their breakfast. Calypso and Percy seemed a lot more at ease, seated next to each other. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I didn't care – as long as we got off this island as soon as possible.

"So, guys, I'm nearly finished with the net. The next step is the plan. Where's Annabeth? She's usually the one who does all the planning." Ouch, touchy subject, considering the grimace appearing on Percy's face for a split second. "Well I guess she's buried in her books. I'll do the planning. I always have awesome ideas, right?" Nobody answered. Fair enough.

I went over to Festus who was guarding the net. The net was actually pretty much done; I just needed to figure out a way to use it.

I remembered how it happened on the Argo II – how the Skolopendra had started putting its legs around the ship, crushing it. That thing was super powerful, and I guessed these legs could make him swim real fast. I was pretty sure that net would be big enough, and strong enough to hold the thing inside, but would it really prevent it from swimming?

"Hey bud" I said to Festus, stroking his head. "Any idea on how to prevent a swimming-killing machine to swim?" Festus squeaked and puffed in response, flapping his wings. I didn't get it at first. But then I did. And I set off to work.

"I told you I had awesome ideas, right?" I said to the others when I was finished. "Let me present you the TACEMAWTS! Or The Awesomest Creation Ever Made in the Entire World to Trap a Skolopendra!" The Green-Dude, Percy's half-brother, had come back and was sitting with the others, eyeing me suspiciously. I didn't know what I had done to anger him, but it was clear he hated me.

"Huh, Leo... That would be TACEMEWTS..." Jason said, half rolling his eyes half laughing.

"Whatever. Percy, Jason, you'll be the baits. Make sure the thing follows you into the net, then I'll do the rest." And I explained how I got inspired by another awesome idea – mine too – on how to destroy a certain dirt goddess.

"Bait? Really?"

"I won't say that this plan is doomed to fail – but it is. A Skolopendra is _intelligent_ , it'll avoid the net when it'll see it." You can guess who said that.

"That's why it won't see it" I replied, winking. "I built some reflective panels, so it'll think it's going straight into water, when it actually goes straight into the TACEMOWTS. MAWTS. Mewts? Calypso, you'll come with me on Festus."

"How will _we_ see the net then?"

"You'll see the four ropes at the corners, you just won't see the net."

I could see the others were sceptic, but who cares – I knew the plan would work. It had to anyway.

I got up on Festus and held out a hand to help Calypso. "And I checked the anti-magnetic shield, we shouldn't crash again." Hopefully. But I didn't say that out loud.

Festus took off, the net attached under him. Triton went underwater, but made clear he was there just to get the ship. Percy followed suit. Jason summoned a few _venti_ and harnessed them to surround him – really sometimes it could be disturbing how he could get these things to do his bidding. I knew they were wind spirits, but the first time I encountered one he was exactly like a boy, and he nearly killed me. Okay, I know, so says the guy who can literally transform into a fireball – but there was something scarier into a power that could control _others_ than into controlling fire.

I went off with Festus to the approximate location of the ship. Festus lowered himself until the net was deep in water, with him being still high enough to avoid becoming Skolopendra-food. I had added a good secure length of rope between Festus and the net, to make sure we wouldn't end up eaten – if this thing was able to swallow the Argo II, I wouldn't bet too much on Festus' chances. Well, maybe once inside, Festus and I could join fire forces, and I still have this load of Greek fire.

And I basically waited there until I saw Jason flying out of the water. The plan was just that simple. So of course it was bound to fail.

We were patiently waiting, keeping an eye on the water, looking out for a blond Superman flying out of the waves, when Festus started falling off the sky, pulled down by the net. I tried to encourage him to fly harder, but it was too late – the Skolopendra already had the advantage. When I saw Festus approaching the water dangerously and I thought about a bronze, fire breathing machine and water, I did the first thing that came to my mind for our survival: I freed Festus from the net, letting it fall into the sea.

I had no idea what was going on down there - they were probably just cursing me, just as much as I was cursing myself. After a few minutes, Jason flew out of the water, screaming: "Why did you do that?"

"Because the plan was that you flew out of the water to tell me when to go ahead. But you didn't and we lost our advantage. We were getting dragged in the water! So, tell me, what happened on your side?"

"It caught up with me and... Ate the _venti_."

"It _ate_ the _venti_?"

"yeah, it was going to eat me but Percy got me out of there."

"Well, let's hope it won't want a main course now that it got some _venti_ -pasti..." Jason didn't note the joke. "You know, antipasti, starters... So what now?"

Just as I said that, Percy shot out of the water, screaming "premium delivery!" Ropes in hand. I got Festus to grab the ropes just before I realised what was going to happen. If the ropes were there, and Percy just shot out of the water so fast, you can guess that he wasn't dragging the thing behind him... I wasted no time and asked Festus to fly upward, what would allow us to use the momentum of the beast when it would arrive, thinking it was going to have some seaweed as main course, realising too late it would just getting a flying lesson.

Percy got back in the water; I could only guess he would go back down to the ship and get Triton to transport it back to Poseidon's palace.

Festus was gaining altitude easily until I heard an enormous splash below us: the beast was getting out of the water. Remember how I dragged Gaia the same way, thinking that the the only way to destroy her would be to bring her off her home territory? That was my brilliant idea: to prevent the Skolopendra to swim, I had to take it out of the water. Now I know that the thing was enormous and that Festus would probably not be able to carry it very far. So I aimed towards the island, trying to get it into superficial waters so that it would take more time for it to get back to its ship. During that time, Triton would be able to sneak in and transport the ship - how ever he was going to do that.

The Skolopendra was enormous and Festus struggled to fly high enough to keep it over the water. When I thought Festus would get too tired and dropped the package, I felt a rush of wind carrying us. As I looked down, I saw a blond Superman flying behind us, summoning winds to carry us. Festus gained in altitude again, and soon we were over the beach, where Festus could finally let go. By the time the Skolopendra would got back to the ship, it would be long gone - hopefully.

Festus landed on the beach. "I'll go check it worked" Jason said before flying off, a new pack of _venti_ available for his personal air bubble.

Calypso and I waited, hand in hand, seated in the sand. A few minutes later, Jason and Percy appeared in the water. "It's done" Percy said as he collapsed on the beach. "Now we just have to wait for Triton to come back and get us."

"Can't you wave-travel too?" Jason asked.

"Wave-travel? Cool!"

"I don't know" Percy answered, "I've never tried. I didn't even know it was possible."

"So do you just summon a wave and it carries you where you want to go? It might a bit long though, and not very comfortable..." I said, imagining myself rolling over and over again in a wave across the ocean, arriving to my destination soaked and sick from all the spinning.

"It's magical of course" Percy explained, "the wave carries you across the ocean in a matter of seconds. A bit like shadow-travel, I guess."

"So you can wave-travel and Nico can shadow-travel" Jason added pensively. "Do you think I can storm-travel? Or lightning-travel?"

"I guess you could."

We waited there for a while before Triton appeared in the water a few meters away, literally coming out of a wave that had come from nowhere and died immediately.

"So, Leo, Calypso, it was nice to see you" Jason said, "and to know you were alive. Thanks so much for helping." He pulled me into a hug.

"Whoa man, I drank the Physician's Cure once, I don't have any more!"

"If I can give you an advice" Percy started - I was pretty sure I didn't want an advice from him, "go to Camp Half-Blood, you'll find Piper there and you can tell her what happened. I don't think any of the two camps are in immediate danger anyway."

"Will do" I answered, hugging him awkwardly.

"And thanks for finding her" he added, murmuring in my ear.

Jason shook Calypso's hand, saying they would see each other again. The when it came to Percy saying goodbye to her, I thanked the gods for her ability to always do what she should: she simply shook his hand, and said goodbye.

We watched them as they went back in the water, following Triton, until a wave took them away. I climbed back on Festus' back, holding out my hand to Calypso, like we had done so many times before.

When she climbed behind me, putting her arms around my waist, she said: "You didn't tell them... About why you wanted to go to Camp Jupiter?"

"About the dream? Nah, they have enough on their minds already."

"So do we go to Camp Jupiter or to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Well, I'd love to see Half-Blood Hill again - I've missed it so much. If camp isn't in immediate danger, then I don't need to go to Camp Jupiter for reinforcements - yet."

As we set course for New York, hoping the anti-magnetic shield would work and that we wouldn't go to Brazil by accident, I thought about the dream again. Maybe I felt a bit guilty about not telling them, just maybe. But when I saw the trees in flames, the cabins destroyed, the Big House overtaken by strange monsters, and the Athena Parthenos exploded in tiny pieces, I didn't feel as guilty. Nobody wanted to see their home destroyed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Percy POV**

We were back in the messy temporary throne room in my father's palace, waiting for him to come back from his inspection of the delivery. I know I should probably not have done this, but I started roaming around the room, watching the tremendous amount of treasures it was hiding. In a corner was an enormous collection of jars of all sides, covered with designs of underwater sceneries. Just next to that was a true library: rows upon rows of books, from ancient looking with titles in Greek to modern-looking with bright English titles. In the middle of the books laid a pile of old maps representing all kinds of marine territories. A very ancient looking one, all written in Greek on some kind of old seaweed parchment, represented an entire city near the coastline of Greece. I could only see half of the title, as some parts of it were worn off, but I'm pretty sure it said "Atlantis". On a shelf nearby a few ancient weapons were stacked in an opened chest, also filled with golden drachmas, and covered in drawings of war. I approached the chest, looking inside at all the treasures. Out of curiosity, I took a little leather bracelet with the design of a trident on it.

"You can keep it" I heard my father say behind me. I jumped up on my feet, a bit ashamed that he saw me going through his stuff. He didn't look mad though, he just looked at me with a smile on his face. "You did a fine job with the ship. I finally have it! And I saw the Skolopendra wasn't hurt in the process" he continued, inclining his head in approval. "I suppose you have questions for me now."

I put the leather bracelet in my pocket hastily. "Will you answer all our questions or, how does that work?"

"Ask away, and I'll chose whether I answer or not."

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't answer my questions about the monsters. Like, we know they were created by a god, a goddess precisely, and that they were created to destroy demigods. You wouldn't be able to say who that goddess is, by any chance?"

"Is it really relevant?"

"Probably not. So, my second question: Jason saw that place in his dream. Ruins, where the monsters were created and then thrown to Tartarus. That's the only clue we have to find them, and find the 'original' one; the son of the goddess."

"Well that is definitely relevant. I know that place really well. It was built for me, originally. Its original name was Poseidonia, but it was changed to Paestum when the romans arrived" he said, throwing a sideways look at Jason. "It was an important city to us, many temples were built; a temple to me, two temples to Hera and Zeus, another for Athena and a last one for Aphrodite. Most of them are destroyed today, mostly because of its role during the Second World War, but some of it is still standing. Of course, like all temples, they hold power. That is this power that the goddess in question used to create the monster. She also went to that particular place because of the necropolis. You know that I am known to have had the most demigods in history, and many of them were buried there – along with other demigods of the gods that had their temples there. It might very well be the necropolis containing the greatest number of demigods. I am sure they fed the powers of the Kataemitheosterras."

"Ok. Can we know where that place is?"

"Of course. It's in Italy. I can even make sure you arrive there safely. You did me a great favour."

"And can I know why you wanted the _Queen Anne's Revenge_? Does it have anything to do with… That quest?"

"First, Black Beard took it from one of my sons. And secondly, it was the only quest relic that missed to my collection" he said, winking at me.

Whatever that meant.

"Anything else you could think of, Jason?" I turned towards Jason, to make sure we had all our questions covered.

"Well not really. I'd love to know these monsters weakness of course, but I guess we'll have to discover that too."

"Percy has an answer to that." Hum, do I?

"Hum, so…" I continued, avoiding Jason's questioning glare. "How do we get there?"

"I believe you have discovered a new ability. It is as simple as summoning a wave and thinking about where you are going – although it does take a bit of practice. I will help you the first time, make sure you arrive on the right beach. That's how much as I can do for you."

* * *

 **Ophelia POV**

I was so glad to be finally back at Camp Half-Blood. I just wanted to curl up into my covers and be forgotten. I had always been seen as the weird one, the one that can use spells and control people – others actually think I can read minds, which is totally false. It was up to the point where my nickname was "the Witch", which is like, the worst insult you could do to a child of Hecate.

And now everything was so worst. I had been on a quest that totally failed. I mean, yes we did find and free Jason, which was kind of the point, but all that just led to an army of monsters attacking camp Jupiter and me getting taken and Percy…

We would have helped a bit longer to repair the damages at camp Jupiter, but tensions started rising between Greeks and Romans. The Legion was accusing the Greeks to have brought the monsters to their camp, and that two of their most important legionnaires had been taken because of us – that's not the way they put it, but that's what they meant.

Of course they had to find a scapegoat. Everybody knew about the story of the spells on Jason and Reyna, and how I had led Percy and Annabeth to Jason, and how I got taken in exchange for Percy. In short, Camp Jupiter was blaming Camp Half-Blood, and Camp Half-Blood was blaming me. So much for "the help".

But it didn't stop there. The second we arrived at Camp Half-Blood, weird things started happening. It took us a while to notice them, because in the beginning it was just small little things that started turning some people against each other. Old grudges started to come up and rivalries got worst.

I think it started between the Athena and the Ares cabins. Typical rivalry, right? That's why it didn't seem strange at the time.

It started out by the typical argument between Malcolm and Clarisse. Clarisse was blaming Malcolm for taking and hiding her spear, evidently just before the capture-the-flag game, as a strategy to win. Malcolm kept saying that it wasn't true, that Athena wouldn't find this wise and fair, and that nobody in cabin 6 was a thief.

Of course at the mention of thieves the accusations started turning towards cabin 11. But they said that, for once, it wasn't them.

Of course with Clarisse's bad temper, it had ended being a national catastrophe, and the capture-the-flag game was put "on hold" until she got her dear spear back.

You'll say this is typical camp business. But wait, that's not all.

After a few days of not doing capture-the-flag, we started noticing that fewer monsters could be seen in the forest. The camp had gone considerably quiet at nights, and demigods going through the woods looking for monsters for training didn't actually find any – or it took them hours of looking around to finally find a scared one that would just run away at their sight.

Then things started disappearing everywhere: weapons, books, phones, valuables, underwear… As time passed the things disappearing were less and less important. Of course, once again, campers had pointed at the Hermes cabin, but when their stuff started disappearing too, it was clear that it wasn't them.

So campers started looking for another scapegoat. And it had to be me, "the Witch". According to them, I was collecting all sorts of items to create an enormous spell that would help me destroy camp.

Okay, not everybody was that dramatic, but ninety-nine percent of them were throwing me sideways glances, speaking in hushed tones as I passed, and avoided me. Even people in my own cabin.

If you hadn't known before, I wasn't really good at making friends. First, I had been the first camper to arrive after the Giant War – what excluded me of most of the conversations as I had no idea of what everybody was talking about – and then, I had also been the last. Yep, only one camper in over a year – Chiron was not happy. I had always felt like an outsider, reinforced by the fact that I was the only one mastering spells at camp. It was a rare ability for Hecate's kids, and just like fire powers in cabin 9 is seen as cursed, everybody thought I was bringing only pain and misery to camp. What was even more reinforced by the fact that the two last head counsellors of cabin 9 had died.

I think at some point I just ended up believing myself that I was cursed. I mean, Rachel had said I would be the help, but all I had managed so far had ended up in disasters.

For example, I was walking in the woods one day in a portion I hadn't yet explored. I knew a lot of Hephaestus kids were coming that way for some secret lair or whatever it was. When I approached its approximate location, I heard screams and panic. When I arrived, I saw that a fire had taken in some sort of enormous garage with constructions up in flames everywhere. At that point, I would have loved to be Percy and to just summon water and extinguish the whole thing – but I wasn't. I tried to use a spell instead. It's a pretty easy and straightforward spell. It should have worked. But it didn't. The fire just kept extending and started getting into the woods. Of course people saw me there and accused me. Thing is, they could not explain how the fire had started, and the only thing they saw was me, concentrating on a spell outside.

I had been sitting at the ping-pong table in the big house, listening to all the head counsellors arguing with Chiron about how I should be expelled and forbidden to ever approach Camp Half-Blood ever again. "I'm telling you, this has nothing to do with her. It's the curse, it's back, it all started getting worst again when Leo died" Nyssa, the head counsellor for cabin 9, said.

"But you have to admit the timing is weird. And it's not the first time she does weird things – spells are complicated. She might not have done it on purpose, but the results are the same." Lou Ellen said. I used to think she was my friend, kind of the only one that tolerated me as a sister. I was apparently mistaken.

"We used to think fire powers were a curse, but Leo saved us." Nyssa continued. I didn't know why she was so desperate to help me. After all, a lot of important things went up in flames in tat secret workshop, but she still was one of the only ones to defend me.

"I'm sure she's the one who took my spear" Clarisse very helpfully added.

"It's all about the timing though. She's always at the wrong place at the wrong moment. And let me remind you that she is the only demigod we've had since the Giant War. You know Athena does not believe in coincidences." Malcolm continued.

"That's not her fault though, she hasn't decided to be the only demigod arriving here in a year. It just so happens that there are no other ones out there at the moment. And honestly, with those monsters at large, I wouldn't be surprised that they have a link with that rather than her." Piper added. I liked her. She was pretty – and she dated Jason. I did not start daydreaming about Jason. Okay, maybe a little. It was a nice distraction.

"But then, if other demigods out there get killed before they reach camp, why didn't she? Once again, the timing is working against her. I mean, she was the one to cast the spell that got Jason and Reyna taken." And I believed Iris kids were peaceful.

"No, she used a spell against the monsters and they used that to cast a spell against Jason and Reyna. There's an important difference there." Thanks Piper, but I think my cause was lost anyway.

"Look, for now, we don't know what happened in Bunker 9. Let's not make hasty accusations. If it appears that she is always at the wrong place at the wrong time, then maybe all we can do is make sure she is never alone. And if she is right and she is innocent, then we'll know pretty quickly." What a shame that Will Solace was not interested in girls.

"But she's not stupid, she'll stop if someone stays with her."

"We'll know either way. If it suddenly stops then we know it's her." Will added.

"She might just cast a spell on the person without him noticing." Lou Ellen continued. I didn't know if I'd be able to hear that conversation a lot longer. My own sister was thinking I was going around putting up fires for no reason.

"We'll need someone that'll be able to detect magic. And someone who can follow her like a shadow – no offense Nico." Will continued, a smile spreading from the corner of his mouth as he looked over to where Nico was seated. "Any volunteers?"

Just as the awkward silence started stretching, someone stormed in the room, panting. "Guys, Chiron, you have to see this" is all he managed to say between two breaths. The counsellors looked at him strangely and started getting out of the room. I followed.

The first thing that stroke me when I arrived to where everybody was regrouped was the dragon – a massif, golden and bronze mechanic dragon, with enormous rubies for eyes. At his base were two people I didn't know – a boy with curly dark hair and a kind of elfish air to him, and a girl, beautiful and yet very 'simple'.

Piper jumped in front of me and ran towards the boy, hugging him tightly and calling "LEO! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

I guessed that this was none other than Leo Valdez, the famous cabin 9 head counsellor that everybody thought to be dead, sacrificing his life to kill Gaia.

Nyssa was the second one running up to him (the other girl next to him did not seem too happy about two girls hugging him). She started talking to him. If he was the head counsellor, I guess she was talking about the fire. After all, he was the one supposed to have firepower. This was confirmed when both of them turned their heads to look at me. Leo got closer to me as though he was trying to see my face more clearly. His jaw dropped a little bit and he ignored what Nyssa was telling him, continuing to approach me. Suddenly he just cut her short and said "It's not her." He didn't add anything though. He just said it a second time after Nyssa obviously started arguing her point.

"How do you know?" Piper asked.

"Trust me, it's not her."

Apparently, his trust was very highly considered at camp, because after that nobody else questioned my involvement in the fire.


	18. Chapter 18

**Percy POV**

We arrived at large of a long stripe of a white-sand beach covered with tourists. A few of them looked at us strangely. No wonder why – we were walking out of the sea, fully clothed, like everything was normal.

When we arrived to a small village, we stopped and looked around. It was sunny and warm, even at this time of the year. The sky was completely cloud-free, apart from a spot nearby. There, a thick layer of cloud seemed to fall from the sky, touching the crown of the trees. Something like this could only be one thing – _magical._

In unison, we started walking towards that place. People on the road were looking at us strangely – as though a freaking cloud touching trees was normal, but not two guys walking in the middle of the road.

My hand was nervously pinned in my pocket. The closer we got to the place, the more I got the feeling that something was waiting for us there. And as we went up the road, the people around us were getting weirder – as though they were getting out of some kind of trance and were looking around, not understanding what happened.

Then we arrived at the border of the cloud. We were standing in front of a big, ancient-looking gate, with pillars of white stone on each side.

"It looks like Mist" Jason said next to me.

He was right. I could feel it tempering with my vision. Only it was so thick it was absolutely impossible to know what it was hiding – which must be kinda the point.

I looked at Jason. Whatever was behind this was not friendly. It obviously did not want us to be prepared, and it was most likely a trap, with monsters waiting for us on the other side. But we didn't have much choice, did we?

In unison again, without a word, we started towards it. I was expecting that once we stepped in, it would all show itself to us. But we simply felt as though we went through a wall of liquid to enter a body of water – in other words, we were bathed in Mist.

After a while, it started thinning. I had no idea whether we were truly seeing what was in front of us, or if we were only seeing what the Mist wanted us to see.

The landscape around us seemed totally normal though. My father had said we were supposed to arrive in the ruins of an old city where temples to the gods could still be seen. And that's exactly what we were seeing. In front of us stood an enormous old temple – ruins to be exact – made of columns of white rock. It had no roof, no floor apart from the burnt grass that had grown where marble should have once been. Only old columns, probably standing there for a few centuries, dedicated to who knows what god. And everything about it seemed normal. Around us was just a landscape of burnt grass, low bushes, pine trees and olive trees. In the distant stood another ruin of another temple, looking exactly like the one we had in front of us, maybe a bit bigger.

The only things that didn't fit into "normalcy" were the tourists. In fact, seeing them triggered an old memory.

I remembered stepping on that ship after taking my first ride on the hippocampi, Annabeth and Tyson at my side, the harpies screaming on the beach. I remembered how I felt something was wrong: how people seemed in a trance. I remembered this scene clearly: a dad saying to his kids "We are on a cruise. We are having fun" his face expressionless. I had the same feeling. Only that time I had been on the Princess Andromeda, and Kronos was on-board.

* * *

 **Ophelia POV**

I didn't even have the time to ask him how he knew it wasn't me. He just jumped on his dragon again and told everyone he'd be in bunker 9, evaluating the damage. After that, it was absolutely impossible to approach him. Wherever he was going, a herd of people was following him, asking millions of questions on how did he survive and what had he been up to. After a while we just stopped seeing him altogether. Nyssa, to whom people were going to when they were looking for Leo, said he was somewhere where he could enjoy some peace and quiet.

There was only one option left for me. There was one person who could have so answers for me, someone who'd listen. After all, she was the one that included me to the adventures in the beginning.

I remembered the first time I had ever talked to Rachel – the only time actually. I was in New York, running away from a monster. I had no idea what I was at the time. My dad had kept me in the dark, he believed that if I didn't know who I was monsters would leave me alone and I wouldn't have to go to Camp. But they didn't. One day, I was in New York with my older brother – a normal mortal, born from my dad's first marriage. We were walking together in Central Park, talking about his life since he moved out of our house. I just went off to buy an ice cream. You'd think buying ice cream is something pretty innocent, pretty ordinary, but that's until the vendor says "You are wanted in Hades' Realm" and starts growing talons. I just ran for it. I didn't understand what she was, but I was sure I didn't want to bring her towards my brother. So I took off down the Fifth Avenue.

There, I ran into a band of weird teenagers wearing all sorts of caps and walking in a strange way. They were carrying signs about how people kept destroying nature. Rachel looked straight at me like she knew me, and told me to follow her. Then she saw the Fury behind me. She threw one of her signs at her and started running. We went up to the road and she waved at a cab. Meanwhile, some weird music started playing behind us, and the last thing I saw was a bush growing out of the cement of the road weaving around the arms and legs of the Fury, who staid pinned to the spot.

Rachel had brought me to Camp. And when I asked her in the cab "Why did you help me?" (Yeah, I know, I had a monster following me, and my first question was not "what the hell was that?") she simply answered: "Because I need your help."

In the beginning I thought "wow, that's a bit selfish" but then she never asked anything of me. I had arrived at Camp, discovered about the gods, got claimed by Hecate, started trying out my powers. But she never came again to see me to ask for my help. I had staid at Camp, even after this disastrous call with my dad who wanted me to come back. If only I had known then what would happen later, I would have come back…

But today I was determined to understand what was really going on. Since I arrived at Camp, I had never helped anybody, and yet she called me 'the help' – and now was the time to understand why.

When I arrived out of her cavern, I heard voices. "I don't understand, you can't see the future anymore, but you get ' _feelings_ '? Like what, you feel it's cold just before it rains?" I didn't recognize the voice. I was pretty sure to have heard it before, but it was not someone I was familiar with. I hid behind the curtains at the entrance of the cavern.

"No. It just feels like the Oracle is whispering things to me, hinting me about things that are about to happen, or about someone's fate. But there are no more prophecies to be told."

"No more prophecies? What, like there was a list of prophecies and you arrived to the last one?"

"Yes, a bit like that. Have you heard of the Last Prophecy, that was spoken to Percy?"

"Yes I heard, he told me. But I didn't know he was talking about the Last Prophecy, with a big L and a big P."

"The Last Prophecy speaks of a New Order. I believe that New Order is one without prophecies."

"What else do you know about that New Order?"

"I can't be sure yet."

"So you know something."

"Maybe. But, Leo, please, tell me, why did you come to see me? I sense the true purpose of your visit isn't to know about Olympus' destiny."

"Well, no, not really. It's about a dream I had."

"Yes, I know what you saw."

"You do? What, can you read minds too?"

"No. But the Oracle told me you would come to ask me, so she gave me the answer."

"Okay, so you know what I'm gonna ask?"

"Yes. And the answer is yes. She is the girl."

"She is? I don't get it. Why would she do that?"

"Help doesn't always arrive in the way you think it should. She helped Percy becoming a god, and now she will help him again."

"But I saw her helping _destroy_ camp."

"Like in all prophecies, there are different outcomes possible. I think that is where your role is, Leo. You need to make sure she will help _save_ camp, not destroy it."

"And how am I supposed to that?"

"I guess this is yours to find."

"Of course…. So what, I just become _friends_ with a twelve years old girl? I don't even know her name."

"You could get to know her. Like you and a lot of demigods, she has a painful history. And her name is Ophelia."


	19. Chapter 19

**Percy POV**

As you can imagine, something was going to go wrong. We just didn't know what yet. We kept staring around us, not understanding what just happened. We are supposed to be able to see through the Mist, right?

The worst part is that every time I turned my head I seemed to see an image flickering in the corner of my eye, right where I had been staring a second ago. But when I turned my head back, it stopped. Something definitely didn't want to be seen.

Jason started moving towards the first temple. He passed over the fence and approached the white stone columns. I followed him, with the unshakable feeling that someone was watching us.

Before crossing the fence, I saw a sign on the ground saying "Temple to Hera". I joined Jason.

"This is it" he said, staring fixedly on the temple. "This is where the monsters were created. This is where the goddess gave them their powers and threw them into Tartarus."

"Well, there's nothing special about it. It's just old ruins with nothing in it."

"Are we sure though? This place… There's something wrong about it. It was definitely Mist we crossed. What if what we are seeing right now is an illusion?"

"Well, what do you suggest? Go into that ruins and hope the chasm to Tartarus is closed? I'm sorry, I'm not approaching this place."

Just to make sure he got my point, I started walking towards the second temple. I didn't look back to check if he was following. If he wanted to jump to his death, it was fine by me, but I wouldn't go anywhere near somewhere where I might fall down _there_ again.

As I approached the second temple, the feeling that something was watching me got stronger and stronger. I also felt some kind of rush inside me, as though my senses were getting more accurate, and I felt stronger – as though I was going into water. I understood why pretty quickly – the sign indicated that this temple was dedicated to Poseidon. It looked exactly the same than Hera's, only bigger. But as I got closer I got the same impression of images flickering in and out of focus. In a split second, I saw the temple with a blue roof and the white columns restored to their original marble state.

I walked up to the first remnants of the steps, half hidden under burnt grass and moss, worn away by the centuries that had passed since its construction. The image of the restored temple flickered again. Something drawn me to go up the steps and into the temple, but something was also holding me back. I could actually sense another layer of Mist between me and the temple – I could only guess that when I crossed this one, the temple would reveal itself as it is in the flickering images.

As I put my foot up to start climbing the steps, I thought that if I was still a demigod, I would think this was the step leading to a very possible agonising near-death experience, but as I'm not a demigod anymore, well… I just put my foot on the step, and crossed the layer of Mist. As predicted, the temple revealed itself in its restored state: white marble, shining under the sun, images of the sea carved into the stone over the columns.

That's the moment I thought about Jason. That's also the moment where I turned around to check if he had followed me. Of course he hadn't. But the monsters had.

* * *

 **Ophelia POV**

I didn't know what was the most unbelievable thing: the possibility that I might help destroy camp or the fact that the famous Leo Valdez was going to try and get to know me. At least now I had my answer. I may very well be the person destroying camp in the end – or _helping_ destroying it. I had no idea how I could have helped Percy becoming a god though, after all the mistakes I had done. Maybe it was just the fact that I always believed he would come and save me. I was sure he would. That's what he always does.

I went back towards the woods and hid behind a bush. I didn't want our relationship with Leo to start by stalking. I know hiding behind a bush was a lot worst than inadvertently eavesdropping, but at least behind the bush there was a chance he wouldn't see me.

I waited until he passed and Rachel was back in her cave to move. I followed him at a distance. I know, it looked even more like stalking, but what other choice did I have?

I continued to follow him after we got out of the woods. There, he waved to Piper and started towards her. I staid at a distance but followed them. I know, I was definitely stalking now, but hey, I would get out of earshot if they started talking about personal stuff.

Luckily, they went back in the woods and sat on a fallen tree. I hid behind a bush – again. I have no idea what pushed me to follow him that way, I just had a feeling he wasn't someone easy to talk to, and that might be my best chance to learn things. It took me a while to settle on their voices. When I started hearing them clearly, it was Piper talking.

"So, you and Calypso, huh?"

"Well, yeah, she couldn't resist the hotness."

"Of course she couldn't."

"But I'm not here to talk about my talents at seduction. I told you I had seen Percy and Jason on their way to… wherever they were going. It'd be too long to tell you everything, and I don't understand all of it myself, but I'm pretty sure of this: Camp Half Blood is not as safe as you think it is, and that girl Ophelia has something to do with it."

I nearly started to cry when he said that. I thought he was going to support me.

"What do you mean? I thought you said she didn't have anything to do with the fire in Bunker 9."

"Well, no, she doesn't, not directly anyway. Look, the monsters may have been beaten in that battle in the desert, but they are still here, maybe not as obviously as an army straight up attacking Camp, but trust me they are here."

"You mean, they are too weak to actually build an army, so they act more subtly. What is their plan then?"

"I'm not sure, but that's where Ophelia comes in. Rachel says that whatever is going to happen, Ophelia will "help" it, and I think the monsters want to use her in their favour."

"By for example setting up a fire and making sure she will be accused for it."

"That's a good example yes. But see she can also help save camp, so we need her on our side."

I didn't know how to feel about that conversation. Used? Like nobody actually cared about me? Or scared that I might actually end up destroying camp?

"So what do you suggest?" Piper continued.

"Well apparently, it's my role to make sure that she'll help us save camp. But I have absolutely no clue as to how to do it. You know how I am…"

"Bad with organic life forms, yes I know."

"Yes. And she's definitely very organic."

"Come on, Calypso is an organic life form too."

"Yeah, but she's different. It's easy with her."

"Look, you just have to talk to her."

"Talk? And what, comment on the weather? No, you do it, you're good at organic talks."

"You know, Leo, if I have learned something about being a demigod, it's that if something's easy, then it's not gonna end up good."

"What? Like farting? It's easy but it stinks?"

I had to use all of my willpower to avoid laughing and signalling my position – and I needed a lot of willpower at that point.

"Very much like farting."

"So what, because it's hard for me to talk organic, then I have to talk organic?"

"Yes, that's what I think. I'll help you in the beginning, that's what friends are for, but it has to come from you."

"Brilliant."

"You know, I just realised that nobody actually knows anything about her. She's been pretty much on her own since she arrived. You know what, we'll just go and find her, I'll help you, I want to get to know her too. She hasn't had it easy since we came back to camp, she's been accused of things she didn't do, called 'cursed' like she's some kind of bad omen."

"Well I can relate to that."

"You see, you already have a common point!"

"Great!"

"Let's find her then."

I heard sounds of leaves shuffling and guessed they started moving. Crap, they were supposed to find me, and I was just behind them. I staid where I was and waited until I stopped hearing the sounds of them moving away.

Just as I got up, I heard the sound of an explosion a bit further down. I staid glued on the spot for a good few seconds, trying to get my heart rate back to normal. Then I ran towards it. Maybe not the best reaction in the world, but I needed to know what it was.

It was coming from the cabins, that bit I was sure. As I approached them, I started seeing flames and hearing people screaming. I didn't know exactly what had exploded, but it seemed to be on the goddesses' side of the cabins. As I finally got out of the woods, I saw everybody assembled around a destroyed cabin. Naiads were running up towards the cabin to help put off the fire. Apparently, considering the position of the cabin and the two cabins around it, the cabin that exploded was Athena's. I slowed down to a walk, staying a bit away, just wanting to make sure there was no victim. I walked on a branch and cracked it. At that sound, a few heads turned, comprising a panicked and very pissed off Malcolm. One look at me and he started screaming, pointing an accusing finger at me: "YOU! I knew it! We should have expelled you when I said it! It's you again! You destroyed our cabin, and you're gonna pay for it!"


	20. Chapter 20

_**As an answer to the apricot: It is planned to bring some Percabeth back! But for the moment Percy is on an adventure and they are far away from each other. I promise there'll be more Percabeth when he comes back ;) I will consider bringing back Annabeth in the story though.**_

 _ **To the others: the usual thanks (haven't done it in a while) for all the reviews/follows/favs. Keep reviewing! I'd particularly want to know if you like the new "2 storylines" thing and if you like to have the two POVs in each chapter.**_

* * *

 **Percy POV**

Have you ever had that dream where you stood in front of the class and you were naked and everybody was laughing at you? That's exactly how I felt, only I was 'lucky' enough to still have my clothes on – or half of my clothes anyway. As the monsters knew for Ripitide, they decided to cut my pockets out – all of them. It was still better than the option of running around naked, but I didn't feel any better. I just had the time to save the leather bracelet I found in father's palace, but seriously, what good was a piece of leather to get me out of that situation.

They had brought me down to a cell under Poseidon's temple, where they reassuringly said that a good few demigods had died. I had absolutely no idea where Jason was, and for all I knew, I had no idea what was going to happen to me. They couldn't kill me, that part was sure.

I felt strange here. Bizarrely, I felt even more powerful, surrounded by the souls of centuries worth of dead demigods that hadn't found peace and staid to haunt the place. I remember what my father had said: that the powers of the dead demigods had probably fed the monster when it was created. I understood what he meant – the walls seemed to vibrate with power.

I started examining the walls more closely. I hadn't noticed at first but I could see images under the dirt. As I brushed the dirt off, I saw drawings of battle scenes. They were all drawn differently, some carved into the stone, some faded apparently roughly made, probably with a knife, some with more details; there was no logic to them, no order that would create a bigger story. They seemed to have been made at different times, by different people. But they had one thing in common: all of them showed a fight against a monster; they were all about heroes.

"Do you start to understand now?"

I jumped so hard I tripped over a stone and fell face first on the ground, just to add to the shame of having half of my clothes cut off.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't want to startle you."

I saw him when I looked up. It was a ghost, floating a few inches over the ground. I recognised him, I had seen him before coming out of a pit filled with coke and cheeseburger in one of Nico's attempts to talk to his dead sister.

"Well you certainly did" I answered, standing up and brushing the dirt off my ruined clothes. "What do you want, Theseus?"

"I, do not want anything. You, on the other hand, seem to need an explanation. And new clothes. Gods, I will never understand how you can wear these things."

"An explanation. Of what?"

"Well, I certainly thought that the famous Perseus Jackson would have some kind of intelligence, but apparently not."

"The famous Perseus Jackson? You were dead like, millennia ago, how do you even know me?"

"You are famous in the Underwold Perseus. And you stand on my grave."

"Oops, sorry." I jumped up on a stone nearby, thinking about the skeleton that was probably lying under me right now – gross.

"So, I will ask again, do you start to understand now?"

"And I will ask again: understand what?"

"I thought our father had sent you here to understand who you are and why."

"Oh, yeah. Do you know anything about that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes, that's why I asked."

"You feel the power don't you?"

"Well yeah I'm in my father's temple, obviously I…"

"Is it truly the power of the sea that you feel?"

I didn't know what he meant. I just felt power. But then I started looking around. I had felt an attraction to that place, but it wasn't the usual tugging in my guts, or actually anything I had ever felt before. It felt different. What I felt was coming from all around me, right here on earth, not out on the sea; it was coming from the walls, the ground… The ground.

"Exactly" Theseus said, watching me carefully. "The other reason for my coming here is that you summoned me."

"I didn't summon anything. I can't summon the dead. I'm a son of Poseidon, in case you didn't know."

"Now you can. Only one kind of dead though."

"Demigods."

"So, I will ask one last time: do you start to understand?"

Demigods. I was standing in the necropolis Poseidon had told me about, the one containing so many demigods. That's the power I was feeling – the power of dead demigods, the power that had fed the monsters, and that was feeding me now. Because that's what I was: the god of demigods. It made absolute sense: I had always fought for demigods. It wasn't about the gods, it wasn't about saving the world, it was always about us. And if you think about all the events that led to my becoming a god, it explained everything. That wound on my biceps that never healed and seemed to be the starting point of everything else, I had gotten it after I saw a legionnaire dying in front of me. I remember feeling new strength coursing through my veins, and that a second after a monster stabbed me. I got stabbed because I didn't care about defending myself, I only cared about saving people – saving demigods. I also remember feeling this weird sensation when Ophelia called my name when she was taken away, saying she "believed in me". Then the wound had started changing as I inspired believes, as Nico had said, and these once again concerned demigods. And then the final blow; I had sacrificed myself to save Ophelia, I had bled to my death, awoken by the battle cry of legionnaires and Greeks alike.

"Dionysus is the only god having a mortal parent, with you, that is. He became a god by getting people to believe in him, and to believe in his abilities. Some also said he literally 'became' what he was inspiring people for, that because his parties were so memorable he became the god of parties."

"Yeah but I didn't become a demigod because I impersonated demigods – I _was one_."

"Yes, but you impersonated other things. When you died on that stele, you died for more than demigods."

"For what then?"

"You will have to answer that yourself. There are two other things that drive you, two things you'd be ready to die for."

"Mmh I know! A tray of blue cookies!"

Theseus looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe because he thought weird cookies could be blue. Or maybe because in his time cookies didn't exist at all. What a terrible life, I wouldn't have liked living at his time.

He started walking away – or rather drifting away. "Wait!" I called after him. "How do you know all this? Why do you know things about me that I don't know myself?"

"I'm dead, Perseus, my vision of life is… _unveiled._ " He started to leave again.

"Wait! Can't you help me to get out of here?"

"I got out of here, surely you can do too."

And he simply disappeared. I didn't know if his notion of getting out of here meant 'being buried under', but hopefully it didn't.

I went back to my observation of the cell. There had to be a way out. I needed to get back to Jason. Knowing who I was meant two things: I had to save Jason, and I had to destroy these monsters. They had been created anti-demigods, and in a strange way it was because of – or thanks to – them that I had become who I was.

I sat back in desperation. My best chance was the lock, an ancient looking one with three holes. What kind of lock had three holes? What would Theseus do? I had no idea. I was not him. Annabeth would certainly be able to think about all his great achievements and pull out some kind of pattern out of it and find how he managed to free himself. Or she would simply use her super architect brain and find a way to lift the door off its hinges or pick the lock. But of course, she wasn't here. I would give anything right now to have her alongside me. Not just her brain. I had always been out on adventures with her. But now she was gone.

I sighed in desperation - again. I looked at the ground, saying aloud "Come on Theseus, how did you do it?" Of course nothing happened. My eyes moved towards the leather bracelet I had gotten from my father. I had never taken the time to look at it more closely. You could see it was old, but the leather was still strong. The trident was designed in the leather on top of it, on some sort of triangle of leather. I passed my hand over it unconsciously. But as I did, I felt something. Something else than the bracelet. It felt like a handle, covered in leather. It seemed really small and not totally tangible, as if it was appearing there as I touched it. I grabbed it with the tip of my fingers, and felt it elongating, getting bigger. When I looked down I had a dagger in my hand, with a double blade, eight inches long, made of celestial bronze. On each side of the blade extended two prongs of iron – like a trident, with a blade in the middle.

I turned the weapon in my hand. A trident. I thought of Theseus and his method to get out of the cell. A temple to Poseidon. I looked at the lock of the cell. Three holes.

* * *

 **Piper POV**

Ever noticed how stubborn Annabeth can be sometimes? I was quite sure now it was a family trait.

It was hours since the explosion, hours that we were arguing over it, and hours that Ophelia had disappeared into the woods.

We had tried everything to convince the others, but very little stood behind her now. Everybody was accusing her, even some of the ones that had defended her for the fire. Her running away certainly did not help her case.

But I had to admit, even I was starting to doubt. Leo had said we needed her on our side, but honestly I didn't see how, if she decided to help the monsters, she could take over camp on her own. The other thing I found strange was that how could the monsters be in camp? There was a protective barrier around us, how could they be responsible for the explosion if the didn't know someone from the inside?

"We cannot afford to have her on our bad side" Leo repeated to me, whispering in my ear in an urgent tone in the corner of the room.

"But why Leo? What did you see that makes you so afraid?"

"The monsters are weak, they can't attack us straight up, but with her, it's different."

"But we beat them at Camp Jupiter, and if they are weaker now, then we can do it again."

"No, you don't understand."

"Explain to me then."

He threw me a worried look. That's what worried me the most. Leo never worried. He would joke about scary stuff, not get visibly worried about them.

"Try and get the meeting reported" he continued.

I nodded. I knew it's not really good to use charmspeak on your friends, but honestly I thought everybody would love a break right now. "Hey, guys, listen up. We've been talking about it for hours and we're getting nowhere. How about we take a break, go to diner and see after what we can do?"

Malcolm threw me a disgusted look. I understood he wanted revenge but we weren't getting anywhere with this 'talk' – that was more like shouting than talking. The others didn't oppose any resistance, and soon everybody was going out of the room. Only Chiron didn't buy it. He looked at me fixedly from his wheelchair, knowing perfectly well that I had used my magical charms.

"So, Leo, tell me what worries you so much about a 12 years old girl." I started.

"D'you know the way we're the 7 most powerful demigods, because of our abilities and stuff?" I nodded. "She's the same."

"Yes, her abilities are rare" Chiron continued, "and they aren't seen the same as fire powers for no reason. Of course it was never seen as threatening because up to now children from Hecate were extremely overlooked. But this kind of children were never underestimated. But Leo, have you seen something that could worry us?"

"In my dream, I arrive in a completely destroyed Camp Half Blood. Nothing is standing, all the cabins are blown up, even the Big House barely stands. And there were those monsters everywhere. But what got me really worried is that campers were also fighting against _each other._ And it wasn't a Roman invasion; Camp Half blood was just tearing itself apart. And then I walk up the hill and there I saw the dragon dead, the Golden Fleece missing, and the Athena Parthenos on the ground, in pieces. And you know who I saw in the middle of this? Her of course."

"Did it seem like she did all this?"

"Like she killed the dragon, took the Golden Fleece, destroyed the Athena Parthenos and turned the campers against each other? Yes it did."

"How sure are you?"

"She was screaming about how she would destroy us so I'm about two hundred percent sure."

"But how can we be sure she didn't actually blow up the cabin? I mean, how could the monsters do it if they can't enter camp? They must have known somebody from the inside." I added.

"We do not know enough about the monsters yet" Chiron said. "The only thing we can do from now is making sure she is on our side. We need to find her and defend her, before the monsters do."

"If the monsters are able to turn her against us, there has to a be a reason, something in her past that makes her vulnerable." I asked Chiron. If someone knew about her past, it would be him.

"Her story is complicated" Chiron answered. "I do not know all the details myself. I know she has a few brothers and sisters, and that one of them died a few months ago. Apparently her father knew all about the gods and decided not to tell his daughter to keep her safe from the monsters. But like you said, Leo, she is powerful, and the monsters found her eventually. She decided to stay at camp to train, but a few weeks later her younger brother died. I do not know exactly how, but maybe it is linked to all this."

"We need Jason and Percy back." I thought. They would have all the information about the monsters; we simply didn't know what we were facing.

"I'm not sure we can afford to wait for them." Leo added.

"Why?"

"Well that's the part of my dream that didn't make sense to me until I saw Jason and Percy on that island on their way to finding about the monsters. I didn't know Percy was a god before that. It still doesn't make a lot of sense, but anyway, he was in the dream too. But he wasn't exactly helping us. Like Rachel said, Ophelia is just 'helping'. So in my dream, Percy was _asking_ her to destroy us."


	21. Chapter 21

**Jason POV**

I figured this was a dream when the guy in front of me appeared to be wearing a U.S. military uniform and a tank drove past me. It seemed pretty reasonable to say the army hadn't just appeared here in only a few seconds.

I was still in the exact same place; only it seemed to be later during the day as the sun was setting at the horizon. In front of me stood the temple to Hera, the same ruins I was standing in front of in reality, only this time the landscape around seemed changed. Two tanks were located at the gates of Paestum. In the distance, I could see the outline of tents and temporary barracks, pretty much like the ones we had installed in Camp Jupiter for the Greeks when they came to help for the monsters attacks.

In front of me were two soldiers in uniform. They seemed to be sneaking out of their camps to come here. I followed them. One was tall with blond hair and seemed quite lean and muscular. The second one was smaller but a bit stronger with dark hair.

"So you said you believed me?" asked one them to the other. According to where the voice came from, it seemed to have been the dark-haired one talking. He had a sort of accent that I couldn't quite recognise.

"Yes I do. Actually, I didn't bring you here for nothing. You see, I am involved with the gods too" answered the blond-haired soldier. "This is a temple to Hera, and by extension to Zeus. Over there" he pointed to the other temple in the distance that looked the same as Hera's, only bigger, "is a temple to Poseidon. Under that temple lie very particular graves."

"How do you know this?"

"Well, I understand your hatred for the gods. I hate them too."

The dark-haired man nodded. They both came to a stop in the middle of the temple. I could approach them a little closer. The blond-haired soldier had eyes of an electric blue, and there was some kind of superiority in his look, probably coming from the lieutenant badge I could see on his chest. The black-haired man had eyes as dark as night, and seemed to be simply a soldier. When he talked again, I recognised his accent: Italian.

"You cannot hate them as much as I do. They killed her… They killed my sister."

"I know. They have killed members of my family too. What I do not understand is why."

"I saw her one last time before she died. She told me she was threatened because of a prophecy announcing that one of the children of the Big Three would have the power to destroy Olympus when he reaches sixteen. She had two young children…" His voice broke as he swallowed back a sob.

"The Big Three, Hades, Poseidon, and…"

"Zeus." The dark-haired soldier said his name with such hatred; he spat it out as though it was disgraceful to pronounce it.

"He was the one who killed her, wasn't he?"

"Yes."

"I understand. So your nephews… They were children of the gods, weren't they? Demigods?"

"Yes. I do not know what happened to them. I suppose their father took them away, if they aren't dead too."

"Maybe I can find them. I know a place back home in New York where they might have been taken. What are their names?"

"How would you know that?" the dark-haired man asked suspiciously.

"I am a demigod myself. But before I tell you who my godly parent is, remember that I hate them too. They killed one of my younger sister, apparently, from what you said, for the same reason than they killed your sister. She was a child of the Big Three, and she was younger than sixteen. And that war… After they caused World War I, they needed a second one. I hate them. That's why I'm here. I want to destroy all their temples."

"So, who is your godly parent?"

"Zeus."

The dark-haired soldier didn't say anything. He just stared straight at the blond demigod with a dead expression on his face.

"Their names are Nico and Bianca Di Angelo. And this is to avenge my sister, Maria." He took out his gun, pointed it at the demigod, and before any of them could realise, fired.

I woke up with a start, ready to spring up my feet; only I was pinned down to the ground by ropes attaching my hands together behind a pillar. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings and to realise where I was – and who was standing in front of me, playing with my _gladius_.

"You know what is ironic about that situation, demigod?" He asked me with a sick smile on his mismatched face. I didn't answer. "It's the sacrifice of that very old brother of yours that allowed our creation. This is a temple. The place holds power only if mortals sacrifice things to the gods. And that guy thought he was making Zeus pay for what he did to his sister, but he just gave power to that place, an anti-demigod power. And he got executed for it. That is truly ironic, don't you think?"

"You know what is ironic? That a prophecy led to your creation and another prophecy to your destruction." I had hoped this comment would at least take the smile off his face – well, I guessed it was a smile, looked more like a grimace to me. But he just laughed and kept talking.

"Ironically, it is another prophecy that will get me to rise above the gods."

"That's likely."

"Have you heard of the Last Prophecy, Jason Grace?"

"Obviously, I wouldn't be there otherwise."

"Well then you remember the part where it says ' _The New Order will be his legacy/made from his failure or his victory/sealing Oplympus's destiny_ '."

"Yes, but I don't see how this refers to you rising above the gods."

"I suppose I can tell my plan to a dead demigod, because you see, your death, or your sacrifice, just like this older brother of yours, is just another step towards my access to power; or rather, towards your friend's access to power."

"What do you mean? Percy? He will never help you."

"But he will, and what's more, he will want to. You see, that New Order is one without prophecies, where gods don't know the future, meaning that they have to work with demigods and minor gods. The New Order re-establishes power to all the gods, not just the major ones. And most of all, it gives power to the god of demigods, your friend. You see, history is only repeating itself. The gods destroyed the Titans, the Titans destroyed Ouranos, and the demigods, guided by their god, will destroy the gods. And that, is the New Order."

"You truly believe Percy will help you on this?"

"The gods have made too many mistakes. You, Jason Grace, as part of the Seven, should know more than anybody. Their time has come. And Percy is destined to replace them. But enough with the talking. There's somewhere I need to be. I will let him deal with you."

What happened next exceeded all level of gross I had ever seen in my life. The monster started dividing in two right at the middle, with his body elongating like chewing gum. From the middle started to appear another half face, half shoulder and half leg, reforming until two separate monsters stood in front of me: one of those who had attacked us at Camp, and the original one, with his strange face and his incommensurate body. Then the Original just disappeared, and the 'Copy' raised my _gladius_.

I felt pretty useless. No matter how much I summoned the wind, or whatever powers my father was supposed to give me, nothing came, not even a slight change in air pressure. I felt as though time was slowing down, as if I could actually see the blade coming down towards my chest. This was ridiculous; I was not going to die, tied to a pillar in Hera's temple, from my own blade. I pulled on the ropes, but there was nothing to do, they were too strongly tied.

But right before the blade made contact with my chest, the monster dissolved in front of me, covering me in monster dust. My _gladius_ fell on the ground before me, along with a small weapon, some sort of knife in the shape of a trident.

"Well it was about time!" I screamed to Percy as I saw him appearing behind a pillar nearby.

"Sorry, I got held up." He ran up to me and cut the ropes that were tying me to the pillar.

"Hum, Percy, what happened to your clothes?" I said, laughing. He looked down on his clothes and looked towards me again.

"I'm gonna need your jacket." And without waiting for the answer he took my jacket off.

"Hum, can I know what you're doing?"

"I need pockets."

I realised what he meant. A few seconds after he put my jacket on, Riptide appeared in one of the pockets.

"We have to go" he told me urgently.

We ran straight towards the entrance of Paestum, killing a few monsters on the way. In no time we were back to the beach, panting.

"Am I the only one to think it was way too easy?" I asked Percy. He didn't have to answer; I could tell from the look on his face that he was thinking exactly the same thing.

* * *

 **Piper POV**

You would be surprised how many children of Hecate were born in Salem, Maine. I know, it's a bit of a cliché. Children of magic, born in the town of witchcraft? Ophelia didn't escape to the rule.

It didn't take us long to fly there on Festus. Calypso had insisted to stay, saying she wouldn't be of any help to us. Leo said she simply didn't like Hecate too much, and that a town full of witches and wizards was bound to be full of her presence.

We landed on a deserted strip of grass in an empty harbour. Only one old three master was anchored there, but it seemed to be more of a tourist attraction than anything else, and that too was deserted.

"I bet Apollo doesn't visit here very often" Leo said. I got what he meant. The town seemed empty, and even the sun staid hidden under a heavy mass of clouds.

"What's the address?" I asked Leo.

"According to Festus, it's just a bit down that way. Captain Valdez will show the way."

We followed him down a road surrounded by big houses made of wood panels. The road seemed just as deserted as the harbour.

"There!" Leo pointed to a house that looked like any other down the road: old, made of wood, painted in red, with the edges of the windows painted in white. I walked up to the door and knocked three times, nervously checking Katoptris was still in my pocket. After what seemed like forever, the door opened to a tall man with blond hair. He seemed really thin and his skin was extremely pale. No doubt that Ophelia was related to him.

"Who're you?" He asked with an unexpected low voice.

"We're friends of Ophelia's, from Camp Half Blood."

If Leo hadn't been fast enough and put his foot through the gap of the door, he would have closed it to our faces. "We're here to help her, she's in trouble, please" I said, adding a bit of charmspeak to make sure he wouldn't crush Leo's foot any more. He opened the door again reluctantly, allowing Leo to get his foot back. Ophelia's father made of small of sign of his head for us to come in.

"Don't worry, I'm fine! Be right behind you. " Leo said before following me, hiding the grimace of pain on his face.

The house was old and gloomy, the smell of moisture was overwhelming, and very little light seemed to be able to penetrate the rooms. Thick curtains were covering the windows. The furniture seemed old and ready to collapse; actually, the whole house seemed very unstable, the ground creaking under our feet.

Ophelia's father led us to a room that reminded me of my Grandpa Tom's house. Incense was burning in a corner, filling the room with smoke and strange perfumes. The room was essentially lit with candles or small lamps hidden in the corners. No natural light was coming through the heavy, blood red curtains. The walls were of the same colour, covered in designs that were probably part of some cults, or whatever magical beliefs that led a mortal to attract the goddess of magic. A table in a corner and poufs all around the room were the only furniture. Ophelia's father sat on one of them in a corner, and invited us to do the same, watching us carefully as though seating in a pouf might tell our future.

"Well you like drawing apparently, particularly trees and triangles." Leo added as he sat on a pouf at the far end of the room. Behind him, covering the wall, was the design of tree, which branches were mingled with its roots. Around it were four triangles.

"These are symbols" I added. "The tree in the middle is the Tree of Life, a Celtic symbol, connecting the heavens with the underwold. The triangle on top, with the bar across its base, represents the sky. The one at the bottom, that looks the same but pointing down, is the earth. On the left, a regular triangle, means fire, and the reversed one on the right means water."

"Precisely" said Ophelia's father. "Although the tree of life has several meanings. I see it as a reminder that Nature works in balance, and that it is that balance that allows it to regenerate in an endless cycle, one element from the other. But how come a daughter of love knows this?"

I had no idea how he knew who my mother was, but I had a feeling he knew more than he let on. After all, if he had attracted Hecate, his magic must be powerful.

"My grand-father was a Cherokee, and he taught me many things about symbols of different beliefs."

"I see. This particular design might actually be more relevant than you think. Maybe not to you, but to your quest, very certainly."

"What do you know of our quest?"

"I know what my daughter told me."

"She spoke to you about this?"

"Yes, when she came home a few hours ago."

"She's here?"

"Not at the moment. And if you stay she might not come back. So make it quick."

"We came to help her."

"She does not need your help, she needs to remain here, where she belongs."

"Why do you hate Camp Half-Blood?" I asked out of the blue.

"I don't hate your Camp, not directly anyway, I just don't want my daughter to be there."

"Why don't you explain us why and all the story around Ophelia?" Asked Leo, his hands working nervously on some wire and scraps he took out of his tool belt.

"Well, I guess the reason why Hecate got an interest in me is obvious. I invoked magic and she appeared to me. When Ophelia was born she insisted to give her her name, and told me about a place where she will have to go around 12: Camp Half Blood. She said she was part of a prophecy and that her role would be crucial there, one way of the other."

"One way or the other? What do you mean?"

"Whether Camp is destroyed or saved."

I threw a worried look at Leo. This guy knew way too much for a mortal.

"I tried everything to make her stay. Although I loved Hecate with all my heart, I hated the other gods. Nobody might believe me, but I know my wife was cursed by a goddess. She died in her sleep, in perfect health, for no reason."

"Huh, yeah, that sure is very typical of gods. Nobody could say they love blood and suffering." Leo added. Knowing him, he meant it as a joke, but Ophelia's dad didn't take it that way and threw him a disgusted look.

"Why are you so sure the gods did that?"

"Have you heard of the story of Cydippe? She was a priestess to Hera, and had two sons, Biton and Cleobis. A festival to Hera's honour was given, and Biton and Cleobis dutifully pulled the cart for the goddess when the oxen failed to come. Cydippe asked the goddess for the best present she could offer a person, probably thinking of immortality or godhood, but instead the goddess just got them to die in their sleep, saying that a painless death after a happy life was the best thing that could happen to men."

"And you think…" Leo started, probably about to make another crappy joke that would definitely get Ophelia's dad to hate us – even more.

"And so you think Hera killed your wife the same way?"

"Yes, she did. Maybe because she foresaw Ophelia's destiny and made sure she came to existence."

"And that's why you didn't want her to go to Camp, because you hated the gods?"

"Yes, and because whatever Hera wanted her for, I won't let her have it." A dark look crossed his face at this instant. I swear the room got darker for a second as well. "But one day the monsters caught up with her, while she was in New York, visiting her older half-brother, my only son with my wife. She was brought to Camp, where she thought she would be safer, and she would be able to learn how to protect her brother. You see, Hecate named our second son Moros, the Greek name for doom, and said he was to be protected."

"You had two children with a goddess?"

"Yes, she explained it wasn't common, but accepted amongst minor gods. Anyway, Ophelia thought that if she came back from Camp she would attract the monsters to our home. But a few months later, Moros was found after going missing after school. He had been murdered. The police said it was some kids who had wanted to play with magic and it turned out badly. But I knew better. I recognised the patterns, it was a sacrifice – a specific ritual to invoke Hecate. Ophelia said it was her fault, that she hadn't been able to defend him, and decided to stay at Camp, to keep me safe she said." His voice broke a bit, his eyes lost in the distance.

"Who do you think could have done that to your son?"

"It was a specific ritual, it doesn't invoke only magic, it also invokes the crossroads. I suppose whoever did this wanted to know their different options laying ahead."

"But surely if her son is made a sacrifice to her she won't really care of the ritual, she won't help the person who did this."

"It doesn't work this way. If she is unhappy with the ritual, she can ignore it. But if she comes, then the ritual will work, and she will show the way. I doubt she would have ignored that."

"True. And now what she predicted is happening. The monsters are coming for Ophelia, they want to get her on their side to destroy Camp, and that is possibly the first step to destroying the gods."

"Yes. That is why she came here to me. She told me everything that had happened at your damned camp. She said how she tried to make friends, to be accepted, to _help_ , and how you rejected her because of her abilities, accused her of things she didn't do. So when she came here for my advice, I gave it to her."

"But wouldn't it be possible that it was the monsters that did this to your son? That they wanted to know about their different options to overtake the gods? And that they chose Ophelia's brother for the sacrifice to give her a reason to stay at Camp, where they could get at her?"

"Maybe. Maybe it was them. But they wouldn't want her to stay at Camp. They would want her to come back here. That's why they arranged to get her framed for the fire and the explosion at Camp. You see, at Camp she is under the influence of the gods. She was naïve enough to help your friend in his quest to find this demigod. But here, she can see clearly. That's why she asked my advice."

"And what was your advice?" Leo asked suspiciously.

"To kill you of course. To kill you all."


	22. Chapter 22

**_Hi everyone! Sorry for this extra long absence, but I promise I'm NOT giving up, I was just so crazy busy this month..._**

 ** _Here's a long chapter to make it up for it! Please review and tell me if you still like it !_**

 ** _enjoy!_**

* * *

 **Annabeth POV**

New Rome was incredible. You just had to walk around to appreciate the complexity of its architecture, which, from what I learned, was greatly inspired from the Greek descriptions of how the original Mount Olympus looked. You wouldn't think at first, but hey, I believed my teachers. I was actually quite surprised to see that my teacher of architecture, a legacy from Victoria (the roman Nike), knew me. He knew Olympus had been rebuilt after the Titan War, and he knew who did it, although he thought I was some roman demigod who chose not to come to Camp.

I absolutely loved my life here. I didn't have time to think about anything, there were too many books to read in the library, too many things do to and see in the village. And when I had a free period, I would go to the Forum or one of the numerous gardens to draw things and perfect my technique. I also learned to love the place, the Berkeley Hills, the surroundings of New Rome, Camp Jupiter, I even loved going around the Temples on Temple Hill. I had a few ideas to redesign some of them that seriously needed some renovation work. And of course I loved participating to the debates in the Senate where I had an honorary siege, thanks to Frank. Although my favourite thing in the world was probably to sit at a terrace table in front of the Senate, looking at the window of my apartment, where everything started.

So yeah, I was pretty much loving it here, having a great time, keeping myself busy. But that's the thing. If I were to stop and do nothing for just two minutes, my thoughts would invariably go back to the one subject I could not talk about. Do you know what subject I'm on about? Green eyes, messy black hair, a devilishly handsome smile, the perpetual impression that he's up to no good, you know, that subject? I had the bad habit to always break something when I was thinking of him.

Like the other day, after a Senate meeting, we were sitting at that café outside with Hazel, talking about stuff – girl stuff and Camp stuff, the usual.

"I had news from Camp Half Blood this morning." Hazel was saying, a smile widening on her face. "And you know what? Apparently Leo just showed up, coming back from Europe with Festus and Calypso!"

"Really?" I was so shocked I didn't actually know what to say. I also did not want to think about Calypso.

"Yeah. I talked to him. He told me all about his trips in Europe, how he went to Athens and loads of other places in Greece. He also went all the way up to Paris and London, and all the way down to Tunisia. I can't believe it. He said it was amazing. He even crossed Jason and Percy on an island in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, do you believe that?"

And there you go, I put my cup so hard back on the table that it spilled over and, for a bit more entertainment, fell on the ground and broke in a million pieces, causing everybody in the vicinity to turn and watch me, a murderous look on their faces.

"Annabeth, you all right?"

"Yeah sure, sorry." Someone from the kitchen came out quickly, cleaning my mess and promising me another coffee. Hazel looked at me with worried eyes.

"And so, what else did you learn about Camp Half Blood?" I continued, as if nothing ever happened.

"Well apparently they're having some troubles."

"Like what?"

"Like things disappearing, campers fighting each other, cabin 6 exploding…"

"What? Cabin 6 exploded?"

"Yeah, apparently everybody blames Ophelia for what happened, but Leo said there's something more to it."

"What? There has to be, Ophelia would never do that."

"Well, apparently it's more complicated than that. Leo and Piper were about to go somewhere to find out more about her. But they think it's all linked to the monsters anyway."

"To the monsters? They're still out there? And how could they manage to blow up a cabin if they can't even go in camp?"

My mind started racing. If the monsters were still around, then the Original wasn't dead, but probably not ready for a fight and weakened by the battle at Camp Jupiter. It would make sense that he'd choose to keep a low profile at Camp and cause destruction, framing someone else for it. It would divide the campers, and that's the best way to win against demigods. But to do this, they'd need someone from the inside. Unless…

I rose up from my chair, leaving some cash behind me to pay my coffee, ignoring Hazel calling after me, and ran off towards Camp Jupiter. My best guess was that Reyna went home after a tiring Senate meeting, and that's where I could catch her. I ran up to her house as fast as my leg would go. We had missed a very important detail that would make a massive difference, if only my suspicions were right. I knocked on her door – or rather banged – until I heard the lock opening. Reyna's head – a very pissed off Reyna – appeared through the gap.

"Wow, what's the matter?"

No time for introductions, I just jumped up straight to the subject, talking as fast as possible between two breaths. "Where were you exactly when you were waiting Piper before you got taken by the monsters with Jason?"

"What? You run up here just ask me something that happened ages ago?"

"It's important."

She frowned. I guess the insane expression of my face convinced her.

"Like I said, we were at Thalia's tree."

"Which side?"

"The side where there's a trunk and branches."

"No, I mean, Yes, but where, on the side that's inside Camp, or the side that's outside Camp?"

"The inside I guess."

"Of course you were."

"Hum, I don't want to seem rude but, are you okay?"

"Yes. It makes sense. It makes perfect sense. I have to go to Camp Half Blood, NOW!"

"Okay, why don't you come in and explain."

I didn't take the time to come in. I continued, now absolutely sure I was right. "You were inside Camp, inside the barrier of protection that surrounds Camp starting a Thalia's tree. So even when the monsters hit you with the sleeping spell, you were still in."

"Meaning that?"

"That they can cross it. They took you after, and I don't think you simply sleep-walked out, they came in and took you away."

"What? But I thought no monsters could cross it?! They could simply, I don't know, use another spell that made us flew out or whatever."

"No but look, they could cross the Little Tiber as well. The Little Tiber is your line of protection right? Only demigods can cross it. Well, the monsters did, that day they attacked us here, they crossed it."

"It's more complicated than that, the magic of the Little Tiber can be very tricky to understand. Monsters can actually cross it, it's just that…"

"Yeah well they had no problem doing it. And think about it, they're anti-demigods monsters, what if that also meant they have a constitution capable of fooling the magic around Camp?"

"Then the campers would think they're safe but they wouldn't."

"Or they'd think they know someone from the inside."

"That would just turn the campers against each other."

"Exactly. But as long as Percy's there I know he'll make sure campers stay united." I hated saying it, but it was a relief for me to think this, even though it meant pronouncing his name for the first time since… that time in the café.

"But he isn't."

What do you mean?"

"He went off on a quest with Jason; actually, he went on a quest to find more about the monsters."

"What? Oh gods, I have to go."

"Keep me informed!" Shouted Reyna as I ran away.

I ran up as fast as possible again, found Hazel, and explained what was going on. She ran to get Frank and in no time the three of us were up on Arion, holding up for dear life as the golden stallion galloped up to New York, steam in his trail.

As we arrived in Camp Half Blood, Hazel popping a golden nugget out of the ground to feed the stallion, I could actually feel that there was something different. The forest seemed unusually quiet, but it didn't feel empty – as though something was lurking behind the trees, only it didn't want to be seen. The usual laughter and familiar sound of metal clanging against metal were replaced by a sort of eerie silence, broken only by a few people whispering hastily in a corner. The basketball pitch was empty, and the ball abandoned on the side. Even the usual glory of the valley seemed a bit tarnished, as though the magic of the Golden Fleece somewhat faded in accordance to the atmosphere reigning amongst the campers.

I ran down to the Big House, Frank and Hazel behind me. I needed to know exactly what had happened since the campers got back to Camp. Arriving under the porch, I was expecting to see Chiron in his wheelchair, looking around Camp or playing some game with campers. But he wasn't there. In fact the whole house seemed empty. I had no idea where everybody were. Surely Chiron would be inside in his office then. I entered, but there was no need to go all the way to Chiron's office. There, in a corner, stood a very embarrassed Nico who hurriedly stepped aside a very happy Will who was desperately trying to hide his smile. I didn't have time to dwell on what was happening, although Hazel was sending Will a murderous look, I blurted out: "We need a recap on what's been going on, now."

"How does it matter to you?" Nico asked, frowning and losing all trace of embarrassment.

"I don't think she meant us, Nico" Will continued, the smile still printed on his face.

"What 'us', I thought there was nothing official?" Hazel snapped, now sending the murderous look to Nico.

"C'mon Hazel, get over it. Guys, I really couldn't care less right now. I meant what's been going on at Camp since you got back."

"Oh there's just been things disappearing, people accusing each other. Nothing too serious, apart maybe the explosion of Cabin 6 and the fire in Bunker 9." Will summed up.

"What does Ophelia have to do with anything?"

"Well first Romans starting accusing us, that our security in Camp Half Blood was bad and that we let the monsters take Reyna and Jason. Then when Percy, you and Ophelia went to rescue Jason, they said you brought the monsters to Camp Jupiter, otherwise they would never have found it. Then they said it was the Greeks' fault if Percy had been taken. So of course we defended ourselves, but everything seemed to be pointing to Ophelia. I mean, she was the one giving the monsters the power to overtake Jason and Reyna, then she was on the quest too, and then she got taken to lure Percy... Don't get me wrong, I defended her. But then strange things started happening, things disappearing, tensions amongst the campers, monsters disappearing in the woods. And then, just when we started getting suspicious of everyone, the fire in Bunker 9, with Ophelia standing right at the entrance. I believed her when she said she was just trying to extinguish the fire, but then there was the explosion of Cabin 6, and there again she was standing in the distance, and ran away when she was seen. I mean, there's a point where we have to stop asking."

"So you blamed her, for all of it."

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't want to believe it, but then she ran away and all the strange stuff stopped, so... You know..." Will added, shifting from foot to foot like he was embarrassed to admit this.

"And now she ran away... Believing we hate her. This is the worst thing that could have happened. Don't you see what's going on? The monsters are able to cross the barrier from the beginning. First they capture Jason and Reyna and I'm quite sure that their plan, although it may have failed, was to start the Greeks and Romans war again. They also wanted Reyna to deliver the message. Then the war at Camp Jupiter. I'm sure they knew all along they wouldn't win, or at least they had a plan B in case they didn't. They wanted to sacrifice Percy to the gods, a blood offering is an offering you do before war. They hoped the offering of the blood of a demigod such as Percy would give them enough power to defeat Camp Jupiter, and then Camp Half Blood, and then Olympus. But their plan failed. So they used another strategy. They started dividing Camp Half Blood, making strange things happen, leading to the campers doubting each other, to the point where they used and framed Ophelia. They understand that they can't beat us with war, so they're just gonna turn us against each other and let us do the work."

"You're right, it makes perfect sense" someone said from behind me. I turned around and saw Piper and Leo standing in the door frame. "We're just back from Salem, where Ophelia's father lives."

"A lovely guy, we had a great time" Leo said, without any of us paying attention to the comment.

"He hates the gods, he believes Hera killed his wife." Piper continued.

"Well that wouldn't be surprising" I added, hatred bubbling in my stomach at the mention of her name.

"He didn't want Ophelia to come here but she did and now she hates us even more. And she hates all demigods now. She had a brother that was killed a while ago. We went to investigate and we found out that the two kids that were accused were actually demigods. They went missing right after they got accused. We're quite sure it was always the plan of the monsters, and that it was the monsters all along. They're going to use her."

"Yeah, according to our dear Oracle, she's supposed to help destroy or save camp, and I guess the monsters know about this and want to use her" Leo added.

"What about Percy and Jason?" Frank asked. I was quite relieved that he was the one asking, although I had been burning to ask.

"They went off to find out more about the monsters to a place in Europe where they were supposedly created, according to Jason's dream" Leo continued.

"Leo, tell them about your dream. I think they should know."

"I had a dream where I saw Ophelia destroying camp."

I couldn't believe that, there was still a way to get her to see reason. I had spent time with Ophelia, I knew she would never destroy us.

"All of it, Leo" added Piper.

Leo hesitated. He looked at me worriedly, struggling, probably for the first time in his life, to find a way to make something horrible sound funny. "Well Percy was kinda saying to her how to destroy us best" he finally blurted out obviously failing to turn that in any kind of crappy joke. There was nothing to joke about though. There was no way Percy could turn against us. I hated him for so many reason, mostly because I never quite got over him - don't tell him that, but there was one thing I was quite sure of, and it was that he would never abandon camp, or us.

"But it's impossible. You're wrong."

"Sweetheart, Cap'tain Leo's never wrong. I know what I heard, and what I saw. He said that the gods would finally get what they deserve. And in the dream he convinced you by mentioning a constellation. Don't ask me why, I never quite understood that part."

"A constellation?! Seriously, Leo?"

"No" Will said, his eyes widening, "not constellation, Castellan."

"Here, that's it, that's what he said" Leo said.

But that was impossible. Percy would never follow Luke's steps. He would never want to destroy the gods, even less Camp.

"Hey guys" Frank said, going furiously though his pockets. "I think I lost something. It was in my pocket when we arrived here, I checked, but it's not there anymore. I'll just get back up where we arrived, I'll be back in a sec, it's important."

We nodded.

"None of this is possible. I agree that Ophelia's story coincides with the monsters, and okay, maybe they'll be able to twist her mind and to get her to help them, but Percy? It's impossible. We'd better try and find her, and wait for Percy to get back."

The others nodded, although Piper and Leo didn't seem completely convinced.

"Where do we start?" Nico asked.

"Maybe we'll find information in her cabin." I said, taking the lead out of the Big House.

We didn't even reach Hecate's cabin. We saw several campers running up the hill, saying something had happened. When we arrived at the top, we saw Malcolm, the one of my half brothers I had actually trusted to take over the responsibility of Cabin 6's head counselling, pointing an accusing finger towards Frank, saying: "he took it! He fooled the dragon and took and the Golden Fleece! He took it for the Romans ! This war was never supposed to stop!"

Then two horrible things struck me: the emptiness of the branch where the Golden Fleece used to be, and the cheering of the crowd of demigods around me, accusing Frank, and the rest of the Romans, of treason.

"We're too late." I said, turning towards the group of people, the only ones that knew Frank had nothing to do with that. "The plan is already in place. The monsters won't have to destroy us, we'll do it ourselves."


End file.
